Exploring The Competing Uses Of Water In The Context Of Climate Variability And Change In The Lawra District

Abstract

A highly diverse set of user groups depend on freshwater resources and services for domestic use, agricultural and industrial purposes as well as ecosystem functioning. Many freshwater supply sources are already over allocated, suffer degraded water quality, and are often not in sufficient condition to support life. The steps towards poverty reduction that targets sustainable development will be jeopardized if improved water resources management and effective storage measures are not instituted. A mixed method survey was conducted in four randomly selected communities in the Lawra District of the Upper West Region of Ghana. Semi-structured questionnaires were administered to community members (N=160) to identify the various users of water, assess quality and identify adaptation measures to climate change with respect to water resources. The GPS coordinates of the water resources from which samples were collected have been integrated into ArcGIS software to enable a spatial representation of the water resources in study area. Results from the study indicate that 100 percent of the respondents rely on boreholes, 23.1 percent rely on rivers, 3.1 percent rely on boreholes and 4.1 percent rely on constructed dams. Water quality analyses indicate that the various sources of water have varied quality. Nitrate ranged from 0.37 to 12.8 mg/L, phosphate from 0 to 1.62 mg/L, iron from below detection to 12.2 mg/L and arsenic from 0.001 - 0.5 mg/L for both the dry and wet season. The perception of water quality varies significantly among the communities. The perception of water colour (Kruskal-Wallis statistics = 29.102, p-value < 0.0001), smell (Kruskal-Wallis statistics = 27.612, p-value < 0.0001) and taste (Kruskal-Wallis statistics = 29.783, p-value < 0.0001) vary significantly among the respondents of the communities. Domestic purposes, irrigation, livestock use and construction were the main uses of water identified. The number of conflicts recorded 15 years ago exceeds the occurrence of conflicts currently. However, 18.1 percent of the respondents believe that water related conflicts will increase should the current challenges persist. The traditional instituted water management practices are highly resorted to, and managed by the WATSAN committees in each community.