Sanitation

As part of the efforts to attain its goal, the Assembly seeks to improve sanitation and waste management . The Assembly’s main focus is on the areas of public latrines (KVIP, VIP) Institutional and household. It is also the aim of the Assembly to totally phase out the use of pan latrines in the district. In this regard the Assembly has been working hard to provide places of convenience to the public and institutions, and also encouraging landlords to put domestic toilet facilities in their houses.

Liquid Waste Disposal

Pit latrines and the Mozambique pit latrines are mostly found in the rural communities and a few bigger communities (Zonal Capitals) in the Municipality. The pan latrines (being phase out) are mainly found in private homes. In absolute terms, however, household toilet facilities  are very few considering the number of houses and for that matter, the population. The reality is that, the majority of the population relies on the few public communal toilets and the pressure on the facility reduces their life span.

Indiscriminate disposal of liquid waste are common scenes especially in the outskirts of the towns and this poses serious health menace. The Municipality has only two (crude) final disposal sites. It has recently acquired a vast stretch of land at Babianeha to be developed into final disposal site under the Urban V Projects. The Assembly has also taken a delivery of Cesspool Emptier for dislodging.

Liquid Waste Management Facilities

No of public toilets  25 in the municipality
No. of Public W/C facilities 8 (8 in (Dunkwa)
No. of Public Aqua privy latrines 17
No. of institutional latrines 68
No. of premises with toilet facility except pan latrines in the district..680
Volume of liquid waste dislodged and transported to final disposal site per day
5,000 cubic litres
Treatment of liquid waste Nil
Method proposed for treatment Oxidation
Ponds (i.e Mechanical or Biological

Solid Waste Management

Solid waste management is not yet a key development problem especially in the rural environment as almost all communities have two or more organized waste disposal sites where domestic waste are finally dumped. The management of these sites is rather poor as decomposed refuse keeps on accumulating daily resulting in heaps of refuse. This pose serious health threats. However, the story is deferent at Dunkwa, the Municipal capital where about a quarter of the population reside. There are only 7 - controlled waste disposal sites. While these are not adequate, are not strategically distributed in town.

This is evidenced by the existence of numerous uncontrolled and indiscriminate disposal of solid waste in the township. The sanitation problem is further compounded by the absence of the containers at strategic locations and temporary dumpsites and the poor state of the Assembly’s refuse truck. Although an attempt is made by scavengers to rake and burn refuse deposited indiscriminately, partially burnt or decomposed refuse keeps on accumulating daily resulting in hillocks at some locations such as Brumase, Obratwawuo, Mfuom, Osofoakurase, Kadadwen etc.

Solid Waste Management Facilities

No. of collection sites 17 (only Dunkwa)
No. of crude dumping sites 160
Volume of refuse generated, transported and managed per day 260 tons.
Treatment of Solid Waste Nil
Method proposed for treatment Land fill.
Size of final disposal site acquired 25km2.

Drainage

The Municipality lacks well constructed drainage system. Most of the drains are silted. Periodically some parts of Dunkwa become flooded and sometimes rivers overflow their banks, rendering some communities, which are low lying inaccessible. Drains to channel domestic effluent are inadequate in most communities in the district. Stagnant and pools of dirty water around dwelling units are common scenes in the Municipality. This is the result of improvised detached kitchen and bathrooms without any proper drains.

The pool of water also serves as fertile breeding grounds for mosquitoes. Poor drainage system has also contributed to erosion problem in the district. In view of the poor drainage system, storm water has eroded streets, foundations of most building creating gullies, which pose serious threat to both life and property.The Assembly has taken serious view of the poor drainage system in the district.

Drainage Management Facilities

No. of storm drains 2 ie. Ama kokora and Frempoma all in Dunkwa and covering a distance of 4.2km Total length of drains in the district 15km Length of drains covered for desilting annually 5km.