The Availability and Quality of Water Supply Sources in Peri-Urban Adentan, Ghana.

Abstract

Globally, urban growth has been increasing tremendously. This rapid growth has escalated the difficulties in water provision. The rate of urbanisation is also rampant in Sub-Saharan Africa and has led to peri-urban settlements. Access to water sources in such areas in developing countries has being a challenge. In Ghana, Adentan Municipality is one of the peri-urban communities where access to water supply has been a challenge over the years. This study therefore focused on determining the sources available, uses, access to these sources, physico-chemical and bacteriological quality and the source suitable for drinking. Household survey was done in 6 communities where 402 households were interviewed to access the necessary data such as sources mainly used for other purposes, drinking water source, access to water and cost. The results revealed a variety of water sources which included pipe borne, hand-dug well, rain harvesting, tanker service provision were used for cooking, washing, and other purposes. Pipe borne water was the most widely used source for other purposes while sachet water was used mainly (77.9% of all household) for drinking purposes. The financial analysis revealed that, household water expenditure was high due to expenditure on drinking water and water for other purposes. There were considerable variation in physico-chemical quality. With the exception of most boreholes and hand-dug wells across the communities, all other sources fluctuated within the expected limits. The sources were also identified to contain nutrients and bacteria not of faecal origin.