Minister for Sanitation and Water Resource, Cecilia Abena Dapaah, has said that the supply of water in Ghana has increased tremendously over the past five years due to the investment by the government in the sector.
According to the minister, the investment by the government, which is aimed at ensuring every Ghanaian has water at his or her doorstep, has increased access to basic drinking water services to 87.7% nationwide.
She added that due to these investments, more than 4.3 million households are also expected to be added to the nation’s water supply system.
“Water delivery has seen a remarkable improvement over the past five years. This is evidenced by the 2021 Population and Housing Census (PHC) Report released by the Ghana Statistical Services in February 2022, which puts the percentage of households with access to basic drinking water services nationwide at 87.7%.
“According to the PHC Report, urban population with access to basic water supply services is 96.4% and 74.4% in the rural areas,” she said.
Touching on the current measures that the government is taking to increase water supply, Abena Dapaah said that the construction of 8 major water supply projects in urban areas, including Tamale and Yendi, under the ‘Water for All Agenda,’ are in the pipeline.
For rural communities, she said that there are several other projects including five District Water Supply Projects (STRABAG), the Ghana-Spain Debt Swap for Development Programme (DSDP), and the Rural Communities and Small Towns Water Supply Project (RCSTWSP).
Despite the successes, the minister noted that there are still some issues affecting the water sector in Ghana, including sand and stone winning near some water treatment plants such as the Dalun Headworks, Tamale Headworks and Weija Headworks.
He added that other challenges include illegal mining activities which are greatly affecting water treatment plants at Daboase, Sekyere Hemang, Odaso and Wa, as well as the use of fertilizers and other chemicals by farmers which end up polluting water bodies.
Source: ghanaweb
