Over the last five years, access to potable water has improved considerably. Pipe borne water is found only in Daboase and Kakokrom. Mpohor, Adum Banso, Atobiase, Manso and BOPP estates have a small town water system. The various sources of water used by the communities have been presented in the figure below. 

From the table, it can be seen that only 11.5 percent of the people have access to pipe borne water with as high as 38.3 percent using streams and rivers. The other water facilities are dugout. The use of contaminated water makes people vulnerable to water related diseases like diarrhoea and intestinal worms As many as 44.5 percent of the people use pit latrines while only two percent use Water Closets.

 This has been illustrated in the figure below. Those who do not have toilet facilities resort to open defecation. The inadequate toilet facilities results in poor hygienic standards, which makes people vulnerable to diseases. Most of the refuse is dumped in nearby bushes, gutters or on the street. In some communities there are refuse dump sites where people dump their garbage. During heavy rainfalls, water drains from these mountains of refuse dump into rivers and nearby streams thereby rendering water-bodies unwholesome. 

Housing Until recently, there was no effort at controlling physical developments in the district especially in the area of housing. Most of the houses are characterised by poor drains, untidy surroundings, exposed foundations and the absence of basic household facilities like toilet, bathrooms and kitchen. An analysis of the walls of houses in the district reveals that as many as 76.8 percent of walls of houses in the district were made from mud while only 13 percent were made of cement.

More than 70 percent of the households live in houses that are not mosquito-proof (see Figure 2.5). This has a direct link to the high number of malaria-cases in the district. Furthermore 43 percent of the houses are not mosquito-proof, thereby resulting in easy entry of mosquitoes into rooms and places of abode making malaria infection rampant in the communities.

In the district 79.1 percent of the households own the houses they live in while 2.3 purchased theirs. 11.9 percent were ling in relative’s houses and employees of private companies and the government house 6.1 percent of the people.