In 2006/7 I worked in Mano Dasse. It was my first job in the provinces and my first extended time spent outside Freetown. On my first day, I asked where I could take a bath and someone told me:" Take a bath in the river. Our devil likes strangers, so don’t worry, you will be safe."
Needless to say, that drove me away from washing there, and I found alternate means. Yet that sojourn in Mano allowed me to see what the river meant to that community. River Taia (from which Taiama gets its name) was clean, clear, and deep.
The community washed there. Children swam there. Men fished there. Youths mined sand at Taiama, which served as a major source of river sand.
It wasn’t just water. It was economic support. It had cultural significance. It was part of daily life.
I also worked in Tonkolili in 2008. River Pampana served the same purpose up North. Life moved around her. She fed people, she cleaned people, she carried people, she supported the sand mining trade.
I went back to Tonkolili in 2016, and it was a different story. The pollution of the river had started, and sand had become scarce. Fast forward to today and both rivers are a completely different shadow of what they used to be. It is unnerving just how brown these rivers have become, like a liquefied mudflow. The shores along Magburaka and Taiama where youths used to stack heaps of sand for sale are quiet and deathly still, like something died.
WHAT CHANGED? Mining and logging.The run‑off, the silt, the waste. It all ends up in the water. In Mano Dasse, the part of Taia we used to watch people wash and swim in is now muddy. In Tonkolili, Pampana carries the colour of what we’re digging out of the ground.
And this isn’t just anecdotal. A 2021 MDPI stakeholder analysis identified Pampana as one of Sierra Leone’s rivers contaminated by mercury and cyanide from artisanal mining, with dredging leading to severe turbidity and heavy metal pollution. The same study warned that other rivers — including Sewa and Moa — are dying the same death, poisoned by chemicals and silt from uncontrolled mining. A 2026 ISA Journal study of Pampana found that 40% of resource use was small‑scale gold digging and 36% sand extraction,
WHAT WE’RE LOSING Culture: A place with meaning is now a place to avoid.
Food: Men who fished now come back with empty nets.
Childhood: Kids don’t swim there anymore. It’s not safe.
Trust: Communities that depended on that water now need boreholes, and monitoring warns of contamination risks.
Some people say we got development. We got jobs. Yet my question is and always has been: are these mines legal? As a country do we benefit from them? Or is it the usual few ruining life for the majority?
We now have rivers that can’t do the one job they’ve done for generations: sustain life.
THE QUESTION: Taia in the South. Pampana in the North. Different places. Same wound.
Can we mine and still keep the river alive?Can we have jobs and still let our children swim?Can we develop without erasing the places that made us who we are?
with 70% of residents reporting environmental harm and 84% linking mining to health problems. In 2024, the National Water Resources Management Agency (NWRMA), supported by UNEP and Earthwatch Europe, trained volunteers along both Taia and Pampana to monitor water quality. Their citizen science findings confirm the rivers are in a critical state due to mining, deforestation, and harmful farming practices.
Because if we lose Taia and Pampana, we don’t just lose water.We lose a piece of who we are.
And if Sewa, Moa, and other rivers follow the same death, poisoned by mercury, cyanide, and silt, then we lose more than culture or livelihood — we lose the lifeblood of our nation.
The rivers cannot speak, but we must speak for them.
THE WAY FORWARD: The evidence is clear: our rivers are dying. But they can be saved if we act with courage and discipline.
Community Monitoring: Expand citizen science efforts like those led by NWRMA, so communities themselves can track pollution and demand accountability.
Stricter Regulation: Mining licenses must be transparent, legal, and enforced. Environmental impact assessments cannot remain paperwork; they must be binding commitments.
Sustainable Practices: Reforestation, controlled logging, and responsible sand mining can restore balance. Mining companies must adopt cleaner technologies and invest in remediation.
Economic Diversification: Communities along Taia, Pampana, Sewa, and Moa cannot depend solely on extractive industries. Investment in agriculture,
eco‑tourism, fisheries, and small‑scale manufacturing can provide livelihoods that do not destroy the rivers.
Diversification reduces dependency on mining and builds resilience. Public Awareness: Rivers are not just water sources; they are cultural lifelines. Civic education campaigns can remind us that protecting them is protecting ourselves.
If we fail, Taia, Pampana, Sewa, Moa, and others will become cautionary tales of neglect. If we succeed, they can remain symbols of resilience — rivers that continue to feed, clean, and carry us into the future.
Source: Ing Barton Cole
