Assessing the challenges of water supply in urban Ghana: the case of North Teshie

This thesis assessed the challenges facing water supply in North Teshie in Ghana. A survey of 100 households from the study area, coupled with information from officials from the GWCL, GSS, PURC, have revealed that illegal connections and continuous unplanned developments have resulted in scarcity of water in the study area. The study further indicated that the Government of Ghana, acting on the recommendations of the WB/IMF’s SAP policies, has ignored the opposition of the civil society and officially privatized the urban water supply in 2005, with a key objective of getting the low income consumers to have access to constant flow of the water at affordable prices. Protracted water crisis in the study area was found to have led to very high prices of water from the local vendors; putting more socioeconomic burden on women. Though it was thought that community leaders could offer productive suggestions on how to restore water supply to the area, it was also generally believed that the private sector participation could inject greater efficiency into the water supply system. Between 1995 and 2005, water supply through the joint efforts of the GWCL and Government has increased from 8 litres per person in 1995 to 27 litres in 2005. The increase is expected to continue beyond the 2005 figure, if GWCL is given the needed technical, financial and logistic support. On account of the vital role of water to socio-economic life of humans, the author recommended an over all involvement of the private sector; the public sector; women; the local inhabitants and the donor institutions to play their supportive roles in the improvement of the provision of water to the urban dwellers in Ghana.

(authors abstract)