The Minister of Water and Sanitation, Madam Cecilia Abena Daapah on Tuesday expressed anger when she visited the polluted Bonsa Water Treatment Plant at Bonsaso near Tarkwa Nusaem in the Western Region. Equally angry over the ongoing destruction of the water body is the Western Regional Minister, Mr Kobby Okyere Darko Mensah who accompanied the Minister as part of her working visit to the region. The Bonsa water treatment plant was built in 1975 by A Lang Company Limited with an installed capacity of 4,500m3, with a current average daily production output of about 2,800m3. The raw water source for the plant is the River Bonsa, which supply water to the Tarkwa township and its environs. Briefing the press, Cecilia Abena Daapah described the rate of pollution by the illegal miners as very shameful, with all the sources of drinking becoming brownish like tea. She indicated that, the plant is experiencing substantial raw water reduction and heavy siltation of the raw water abstraction point as a result of galamsey operations on the Bonsa river. According to Cecilia Daapah, the amount of alum used at the plant has since 2009, increased from 10 bags per week to 40 bags per week due to galamsey which causes the colour and turbidity to deteriorate. She noted that, a lot of clay had been mixed with the water, which means that, the quality of the water as a raw source for the plant had been compromised. She appealed to the traditional leaders in the area to support government in stamping out the menace of illegal mining in the area, as government is committed to bring sanity to mining the sector. On his part, the Western Regional Minister, Mr Kobby Okyere Darko Mensah, urged Chiefs in the area to desist from selling lands to people for the purpose of illegal mining. He assured that; his office would clamp down on the activities of illegal miners to protect water bodies in the region.