Water Supply Situation in the District

Increasing access to potable water is very important in achieving good health outcomes, poverty reduction and overall development of an area. This section of the report looks at water provision in the Bosomtwe District.

The main sources of potable water in the District are Small Town Water Systems, boreholes and mechanized boreholes. Rivers, open-wells, lake and rain water serve as complimentary sources. Currently the water coverage in the District is about 39 percent. This percentage does not include the household and institutional connections. All the 66 communities in the district have access to potable water.

There are 192 public water points made up of boreholes and standpipes in the District. About 40 of these boreholes are not functional In addition to the public water points there are 346 household connections to the two Small Town Water Projects – Kuntanase and Pramso Water Projects – in the District.

Small Town Water System in the District

There are three Small Town Water Systems in the District; these are Kuntanase, Pramso and Jachie Water Supply Systems. The Water System at Jachie is currently not in operation because of poor management of the facility.

The distribution of the 192 public stand pipes and boreholes/mechanized boreholes in the District is as follows:

 Management of the Water Supply System

The three Small Town Water Supply Systems (Kuntanase, Pramso and Jachie Water Supply System) have separate boards which take management decisions, however, the day-to-day maintenance and routine activities in the running of the three water supply systems are under the Operation and Maintenance Unit of Kuntanase Water Supply.

Management of the Boreholes

The Water and Sanitation Management Committees formerly WATSAN Committees are responsible for the management of boreholes in their communities.. Funds for maintenance are collected from the community depending on their plans through:

1. Households  monthly dues

2. Pay as you draw

Some community members have been trained on how to maintain the boreholes but sometimes cost of materials for the maintenance is too expensive hence the communities have to rely on the District Assembly for support when necessary.

The Boreholes are drilled for both the communities and the schools. They are normally located on school compounds or near the school to ensure that the schools have access to potable water.

Institutional Water Coverage

For the purposes of this report two major institutions – health and educational institutions would be covered in the institutional water assessment.  

The district has twenty-three (23) health facilities all working to promote the health conditions of the people. The 23 health facilities in the district are made up of:

• 4 Hospitals

• 7 Clinics/CHPS Compounds

• 6 Clinics

• 2 Maternity Homes

• 2 Training Institutions

• 2 RCH Centres

All the 23 health facilities have access to potable water facilities.

In the educational sector the levels of educational institutions identified in the District are tertiary, second cycle and basic education. There are 173 public basic schools, made up of 56 KGs, 60 primary schools and 57 JHS schools in the district. There are 4 public Senior High Schools (SHS) in the district and 2 tertiary institutions.

 All the 4 second cycle institutions and the 2 tertiary institutions have access to good potable water. At the basic level, the situation is quite different. About 58 percent of the basicschools have access to potable water. To ensure that the majority of the basic schools get access to potable water, it is the policy of the Assembly to ensure that drilling of boreholes  in the communities are located in the school compound or as closer to the school as possible  during the ensuing planning years

Key development issues in Water Delivery

The problems identified in water delivery are:

Inadequate access to potable water in  some communities

low water coverage in schools

Inadequate management capacity of water facilities

Dormant/poor performance of Water and Sanitation Management Committees.

Broken down of water facilities due to poor maintenance culture

To address development issues in water delivery the following interventions will be undertaken. These interventions will include:

Drilling and construction of new boreholes in communities and schools

Rehabilitation of broken down boreholes

Revamp and training of Water and Sanitation  Committees

Communities must adopt maintenance culture

Water Security

Water security is defined as the capacity of a population to safeguard sustainable access to adequate quantities of acceptable quality water for sustaining livelihoods, human well-being, and socio-economic development, for ensuring protection against water-borne pollution and water-related disasters, and for preserving ecosystems in a climate of peace and political stability. (UN-Water, 2013)

Water security encapsulates complex and interconnected challenges and highlights water’s centrality for achieving a larger sense of security, sustainability, development and human well-being. Many factors contribute to water security, ranging from biophysical to infrastructural, institutional, political, social and financial – many of which lie outside the water realm. In this respect, water security lies at the centre of many security areas, each of which is intricately linked to water. It is safe to state that investment in water security is a long-term pay-off for human development and economic growth, with immediate visible short-term gains.

Water Resources

 The District is generally endowed with water resources, although the amount of water available changes markedly from season to season and year to year. Rivers like Oda, Butu, Supan and Adabanwe run through the district. Lake Bosomtwe is an important water resource in the district. Improper use of agro-chemicals and increasing urbanization has led to increasing effluent discharges deteriorating water quality.

Soil erosion caused by poor agricultural practices is causing increased sediment loads in rivers and high levels of suspended particulates. Water resources could be adversely impacted by the projects and programmes in various ways. Most of the people in the district rely on ground water resources.

Water-Related hazards

Water-related hazards form a subset of natural hazards; the most significant ones include floods, storms, heat waves, droughts and waterborne diseases. Water-related disasters pose both direct impacts (e.g. damage to buildings, crops and infrastructure, and loss of life and property) and indirect impacts (e.g. losses in productivity and livelihoods, increased investment risk, indebtedness and human health impacts).

Potable water and sanitation coverage is very low in the district there is the need for the District Assembly to partner Development Partners to provide financial resources, help capacity-building, and provide safe, clean, accessible and affordable drinking water and sanitation for all communities. Access to potable water in the district has not kept pace with rapid population growth, particularly in the major settlements such as Esereso, Aputuogya, Feyiase, Pramso and Jachie.

Water Quality

Sufficient water supply of appropriate quality is a key ingredient in thehealth and well-being of humans and for social and economic development. . However, water quality is just as important as water quantity for satisfying basic human and environmental needs. Moreover, the two are inextricably linked, with poor water quality impacting water quantity in a number of ways. For example, polluted water that cannot be used for drinking, bathing, industry or agriculture may effectively reduce the amount of water available for use in a given area. In the district because of the intermittent flow of water people store water in gallons, buckets, drums etc. These containers are not frequently cleaned and thereby negatively affecting the quality of water

Water for Food

The link between water and food is a simple one. Crops and livestock need water to grow. Agriculture accounts for 70% of all water withdrawn by the agricultural, municipal and industrial (including energy) sectors. Water is the key to food security.  However, in the district crops are not grown throughout the year because of inadequate irrigation facilities. Login

Key development issues in Water Security

Pollution, drying up and dwindling of water bodies

 Poor quality of water due to handling and storage by households

 Poor management of water resources

 Non-performance of Water and Sanitation Management Committees

Presence of water related hazards like drought,  rainstorm, flooding and water borne diseases

 Low water coverage in both rural and urban communities

 Shortage of safe drinking water especially during the dry season

The key issues in water security will be addressed by the Assembly and its Development Partners. Some interventions that would be implemented during the planned period would include:

 Public education on the need to protect water bodies

Conduct public education on proper handling and storage of water

Building the capacities of Water and Sanitation Management Committees to enable them manage the water facilities well

Providing more boreholes in both rural and urban communities

Promote the use of small scale irrigation pumps for all year cropping.

Existing Drainage, Sanitation and Waste Management Infrastructure

The sanitation situation in the District is not anything better. The assessment of the sanitation situation would be done in two different categories – solid waste and liquid waste.  

The major solid waste generators in the District are households, market Centres, Institutions and industries, transport stations, hotels and guesthouses, restaurants and canteens, schools and offices, shops, and health facilities.

Composition of Solid Waste Generated

The composition of solid waste generated in the district are organic and inorganic. The organic include paper, food waste, animal waste, textiles and wood/plants.  The inorganic includes glass, metals and rubber/plastics. About 75 percent of the waste generated in the District is organic waste which can be easily turned into compost.

 Solid Waste Disposal

The methods of solid waste disposal include surface dumping (public open space), refuse containers (dumpsters), open incineration/burning, house-to-house collection, burying, crude landfill/tipping, hog feeding and bush tipping.

The most widely method of solid waste disposal is by public dump in the open space accounting for 65.9 percent. About 6.8 percent of households dump their solid waste indiscriminately. House to house waste collection accounts for 3.9 percent. For liquid waste disposal, throwing waste onto the street (40.7%) and onto the compound (39.0%) and are the two most common methods used by households in the District. As people continue to dispose refuse openly environmental sanitation would deteriorate. Moreover, flies from the refuse dumps would lead to the spread of diseases.

Liquid Waste Disposal

The District has a total of 40 improved public/communal toilets made up of 34 KVIPs/Aqua-Privy and 6 WCs with 829 squat-holes. Out of the 829 squat-holes, 64 squat-holes are not functioning. The common type of toilet facilities available in the District are VIP, KVIP, WC, aqua privy, and pit latrines. There are quite a number of people who also use the bush as places of convenience. The district has toilet facility coverage of 31.9 percent. Table 1.21 shows the number of Communal/public toilets and their functionality in the district.

These facilities are woefully inadequate for a population of 119,444 and present a major challenge to good sanitation in the District. Also the pit latrines, which number about 12, present another challenge because they are not hygienic as they emit foul smell and encourage the breeding of flies.  

Waste Management in BDA

The two bodies responsible for waste management (collection and transportation) are the District Environmental Health Unit (DEHU) and Zoom Lion Ghana Limited. Zoom Lion Ghana Limited does the collection and transportation of solid waste generated in the District. The waste generated are temporarily deposited at either refuse collecting points (refuse site or containers) before they are periodically collected and transported to the final refuse disposal site.

The Environmental Health Department of the Assembly plays a supervisory role over the activities of Zoom Lion Ghana Limited.  They also educate the general public on good sanitation practices and ensure that the people keep their surroundings clean. However, inadequate personnel and logistics have hampered the activities of these bodies.