Water Facilities 

There is limited access to safe drinking water in the East Mamprusi Municipal.  Out of the 143 communities, 84 have access to potable water while 59 communities are without potable water. This represents 51.2% and 48.8% of settlement respectively.

There are two (2) pipe systems, and one hundred and sixty-seven (167) boreholes with hand pumps.  The current functional facilities serve a total of 63,269 people.  Percentage of total District population served with potable water is 48.4%.

Boreholes are more reliable in the District.  Most hand -dug wells are not deep enough to yield water all year round. Over 100 boreholes are not functional and need rehabilitation to ensure all year round water supply.  A number of hand dug wells with pumps and hand dug - wells without pumps need replacement, repairs, installation of Hand pumps or upgrading of wells including deepening.

Problems of the  Water Sector   

Insufficient potable water facilities in the District were identified as the core problem.  The existing water facilities cater for 48.4% of the population.  59 communities out of the total number of 143 in the District are without potable water. A good number of facilities are non-functional.  The effect of inadequate access to potable water is that people drink from unprotected sources.  This has the effect of increasing the incidence of water borne diseases like diarrhoea, bilharzia, dysentery and cholera.

There is low productivity as a result of ill health and loss of man-hours in the search for water.  Low productivity results in mass poverty experienced in the District.  The Most vulnerable groups are women and children.  Three main causes identified for inadequate access to potable water are as follows:

•    Lack of maintenance of existing facilities 
•    High cost of water facilities, (High cost of bore-hole parts)
•    Inadequate District Assembly funds to support Water and Sanitation projects.

Solution to Water Problems 

Under the Community Water and Sanitation Agency’s CIDA sponsored NORWASP project, the District has started implementation of its District Water and Sanitation Programme. A water and sanitation development plan has been prepared.  Details of issues on the water and sanitation sector and implement of the plan are spelt out in the water and sanitation Document. 

Sanitation Facilities

There are 4 types of sanitation facilities currently in use in the District.  These are septic tank, Ventilated pit latrine, Kumasi Ventilated pit latrine (KVIP) and water closet.  Table 7 shows distribution of sanitation facilities in the East Mamprusi Municipal.