Friday, March 29, 2024

Why Local Solutions Are Best For Urban Water Supply In Ghana

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Water insecurity ranks as one of the world’s biggest problems. Countries in sub-Saharan Africa are among the most vulnerable. A recent global survey by UNICEF and the World Health Organisation suggests that about 490 million people in sub-Saharan Africa lack access to safe water supply, mostly in cities.

In Ghana, for example, over 6 million people (20% of the total population) lack access to safe water supply.

Academic and policy discussions about the failure to achieve water security tend to centre on four issues. These are rapid urbanisation, poor governance, payment for services and climate change.

The issue that’s usually missing from the discussion is the specific local factors that drive water insecurity. The gap in knowledge about water at the household level prompted us to investigate the case of the Accra-Tema City-Region in Ghana. With a population of about 4 million people, the city-region is the most urbanised region in Ghana. We wanted to know whether residents of this rapidly expanding region are water insecure and why. We hoped this could shed light on how to solve residents’ water problems. Read More…

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