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A video alleging that illegal mining (galamsey) has discoloured the Kintampo Water Falls has emerged and gone viral on several social media platforms.
The video compares a clean Kimtampo Falls supposedly filmed in 2016 with the alleged 2024 version where the colour of the Falls looks dirty, adding that the change is a result of galamsey activities.
This is no longer funny. For how long will the NPP continue to destroy our country while we remain quiet? pic.twitter.com/rgHK5t6xVa
— Beatrice Annan (@Beatrice_Annan1) September 14, 2024
Given the swelling public discourse about the devastating impact of galamsey on water bodies in Ghana, the viral video has generated a lot of controversy on social media.
However, Fact-Check Ghana’s verification of the video shows that the supposed 2024 version of the Falls is not current and the change in the colour is not related to galamsey.
Viral discoloured video of the Falls is from 2023
When the team took screenshots of the video and ran a reverse image search, it emerged that the discoloured video of the Kintampo Falls was taken in October 2023 amidst similar allegations that galamsey activities had affected the colour of the Falls.
🚨ICYMI🇬🇭💦: A viral video of the Kintampo Waterfalls that suggested that the change in its color was due to galamsey activities has been debunked by management.
According to them, it’s due to unusual torrential rains in the region causing an overflow which brought loads of mud… pic.twitter.com/Z4AVuSMoGb
— Ölele | DTS👨🏾🍳🇬🇭 (@OleleSalvador) October 10, 2023
Days after the video emerged on social media in October last year, the management of the Falls issued a statement to debunk the narrative. They explained that Pumpum River, located in the Bono East region, which is the main source of the Fall had in the weeks before overflown its banks due to heavy rains recorded in the area. The overflow, they explained, had carried debris and sediments upstream that had changed the colour of the Falls.
“This phenomenon is not uncommon in natural systems and happens usually when heavy rainfalls washes soil and sediment into the river, resulting in a brief change in water appearance,” the statement by the management said.
The statement added that “we want to state emphatically that this has nothing or whatsoever with illegal mining activities.”
Media outlets that followed up on the matter quoted one Franklin Owusu, a manager of the Kintampo Water Falls site, who said that a contractor working on a road in the area had filled it with red sand. The rainfalls collected the sand debris from the road into the Falls, he added.
Some days later, Graphic Online shared a video of a man at the Water Falls showing how the colour of the Water Falls had changed to its normal colourless state.
What’s the current state of the Water Falls?
To further ascertain the current colour of the KintampoWater Falls, Fact-Check Ghana sent two different reporters to the site on Monday, September 16, 2024. Videos they shared showed that Falls is not discoloured contrary to the claims in the viral video. See the two videos below.
From the above, the viral video suggesting that the Kintampo Water Falls had been discoloured as a result of galamsey is false. The video has been recycled from October 2023. Also, checks by Fact-Check Ghana show that currently, the Water Falls is not discoloured.
