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Water Resources
Ghana is well endowed
with water resources. The
Volta river system basin,
consisting of the Oti, Daka,
Pru, Sene and Afram rivers
as well as the white and
black volta rivers, covers 70%
of the country area. Another
22% of Ghana is covered
by the southwestern river
system watershed comprising
the Bia, Tano, Ankobra and
Pra rivers. The coastal river
system watershed, comprising
the Ochi-Nawuka, Ochi
Amissah, Ayensu, Densu
and Tordzie rivers, covers the
remaining 8% of the country.
Furthermore, groundwater
is available in mesozoic and
cenozoic sedimentary rocks
and in sedimentary formations underlying the Volta
basin. The Volta Lake, with
a surface of 8,500 km2, is one
of the world’s largest artificial
lakes. In all, the total actual
renewable water resources are
estimated to be 53.2 billion
m3 per year.
Management
of the Sector
The Ministry of Water
Resources and Works and
Housing (MWRWH) is the
parent ministry having the
overall responsibility for the
water supply sector. Institutions involved in water
management are: the Water
Resources Commission (WRC),
which is the leading institution involved in water
resources management in the
country; the Water Directorate
(WD), which guides and coordinates water programmes
in the country; the Environmental Protection Agency
(EPA) which protects and
monitors water sources from
pollution; the Ghana Water
Company Limited (GWCL),
which exercises management
functions over water sources
that it abstracts for treatment
and subsequent distribution
to consumers; the Community
Water and Sanitation Agency
(CWSA), which is responsible
for water supply to rural com217
GHANA NATIONAL COMMISSION FOR UNESCO
Water
for Life
munities, including small
towns; and the Public Utilities Regulatory Commission
(PURC) which has the responsibility for reviewing and
establishing tariffs and monitoring drinking water quality.
The National Water
and Sanitation Picture
The main consumptive
uses of water in Ghana are
water supply (37%) and irrigation and livestock watering
(48%). Surface water resources
alone are sufficient to meet
present and future consumptive water demand. Water
demand for 2020 has been
projected to be 5 billion m3,
which is equivalent to about
12% of the total surface
water resources.
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In spite of the availability
of water to meet demand,
there are deficits in coverage.
A national demographic and
household survey found that
only 40% of urban residents
had piped water in their homes
have been challenged by the
civil society organisations
working on water and sanitation issues in Ghana. They
maintain that the CWSA
estimates are more factual
than the JMP’s.
Coverage of Safe Water (percent)
100
90
80
70
60
50
40
30
Source: Ghana
Water and
Sanitation
Monitoring
20
10
0
1993
1998
Rural
2003
Urban
2008
National
Platform.
with a similar number buying
water from public taps or
neighbours. According to the
Community Water and Sanitation Agency (CWSA), urban
water supply coverage is estimated at 59%, while rural
and small town coverage is
about 54%. These numbers
belie the fact that there is
widespread rationing and an
acute shortage of water. In
Accra for example, it is estimated that only approximately 25% of residents
enjoy a 24 hour water supply.
About 30% have an average
of 12 hours service every day
for five days a week. Another
35% have service for two days
each week while the remaining residents especially those
on the outskirts of Accra are
completely without access to
piped water. A recent Joint
Monitoring Programme (JMP)
report estimates that between
76-90% of the urban and 5175% of the rural population
has access to an improved
drinking water source, giving
a combined national estimate of between 76-90% of
the population with access
to improved water sources.
However, these JMP estimates
44% of Ghana’s population lives in urban areas. Coverage of household human
waste facilities is currently
very low. The urban areas
include about 174 settlements
with populations above 5000
(under district assemblies),
10 large towns classified as
municipal assemblies and 4
large cities classified as metropolitan areas. Few cities
have any structured ongoing
project for promotion of
household latrines and an
estimated 40% of the urban
population has access to some
form of acceptable household sanitation facility. The
majority of urban households
depend on public toilets and
unimproved latrines. Bucket
latrines which were banned
over a decade ago are still
widely prevalent and tolerated
by district assemblies due
to lack of alternatives. In the
rural areas only about 11%
of the population has access
to some form of household
sanitation and progress is
slow as evidenced by a paltry
total of 32,000 household
latrines being constructed
between 1994-2004. An estimated 93,000 latrines need to
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GHANA NATIONAL COMMISSION FOR UNESCO
be constructed per year to meet
the Millennium Development
Goals (MDG) targets.
Policy
in the Sector
The water policy aims
at achieving an efficient and
effective management system
for the sustainable development of water resources to
assure full socio-economic
benefits for present and future
generations. The policy recognizes the fundamental
rights of all people to safe
and adequate water to meet
basic human needs. The strategy to manage water is therefore based on an Integrated
Water Resources Management
approach. This approach
requires incorporating sensitivity to environmental management in order to ensure
the sustainability of water
resources in both quantity
and quality. The policy aims
at extending the coverage of
rural water and sanitation
facilities to 85% of the rural
population by the year 2015
in line with the Millennium
Development Goals (MDGs).
Challenges
• The challenge of water as
a key prerequisite for development lies in treatment and
distribution of adequate
quantities to all parts of the
country. However, since most
rural and peri-urban communities are not connected
to treated surface water,
ground water that is derived
from boreholes is common.
To serve poor, vulnerable and
excluded parts of the country
will require the construction
of water treatment plants
to supplement the boreholes.
• While rural areas have
largely been excluded from
safe treated water supply,
increasingly, urban centres
have been experiencing water
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water which invariably lead
to their death. All these, in
the midst of climate change,
could potentially worsen the
country’s water situation.
shortages leading to exposure
to unsafe water. This is due
to the trend of rapid urbanization that renders existing
facilities inadequate to cater
for the increased population.
It is therefore important to
expand the facilities as well as
repair defective water pumps
at treatment plants.
• Poor water use practices
lead to environmental degradation, the pollution of rivers
that increases the chances of
the rivers dying, as well as
the draining of wetlands of
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Conclusion
Statistics indicate that there is enough
water in Ghana, but supply and distribution
are grossly inadequate. With increasing
population growth and urbanisation and
rapidly diversified demands, including
water for irrigation, hydro power, industrial
processes, fisheries and aquatic ecosystem
protection, the resource is becoming increasing scarce and often of inferior quality.
There is therefore the need for an integrated water resources management
approach to ensure that water does not
become a constraint to national development.
■