Water & Sanitation  

WATER SUPPLY

The Adansi Asokwa District has had 57.4% of its perennial water problems solved. However, considering the population of some of the communities like; Asokwa, Brofoyedru, Fumso, Bodwesango, New Akrofuom etc; these communities need to have Small Town Water Supply Project yet they are being served with boreholes, which is inadequate.

The 2010 PHC reveals that the number of households using borehole (55.6 %) as the main source of drinking water is higher than the regional record of 30.9 percent and the national record of 23.2 percent. In rural areas, inhabitants depend much on bore-hole water.

Furthermore, in urban localities, less than five percent (4.0%) use sachet and bottled water as the main source of drinking water, as against less than (1.5%)   percent in rural localities. The disparity in the urban and rural in terms of sachet water usage is similar in the case of the national record. At the national level, 13.9 percent use sachet water as the main source of drinking water in urban localities as against (1.5%) percent in rural localities.

The world through the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) of which Ghana is a signatory, has committed itself to attaining universal coverage by 2030. Goal 6 of the SDGs seek to ‘Ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all’. With the advent of this commitment, strenuous efforts have been made by the Government to achieve the set target of 75% water coverage.

KFW (RWSP IV) 
 

Under the Rural Water Supply Project IV, the District benefited from the construction of 91 number boreholes in 42 selected communities. The project had improved water supply situation in the district tremendously.

RWSPIV EXTENSION

Under this project the district is benefitting from 25 number additional boreholes to be distributed in 17 selected communities. Sitting had been completed and drilling would soon commence. After completion, the total number of boreholes under RWSP1V to 116 boreholes in 59 communities.

1.39 Sanitation Situation (Waste Management SYSTEM)

1.39.1 Liquid and Solid Waste

i)    LIQUID WASTE

2010 PHC shows that four main types of toilet facilities were reported in the Adansi North District, namely KVIP, Pit latrine, water closet and public toilet.. The highest reported facilities is public toilet which is nearly half (48.3%), pit latrine recorded 30.7 percent, water closet (4.8%), and Kumasi Ventilated Improved Pit Latrine (KVIP) recorded 4.8 percent. This follows a similar trend in the order of highest of the usage of toilet facilities at the national level. At the national level, 34.6 percent use public toilet, pit latrine (19.0%), water closet (WC) (15.4%) and KVIP (10.5%).

ii)    SOLID WASTE

This area was also a big challenge to the district in terms of its management.  There were piles of refuse throughout the district especially in the bigger communities like., Asokwa, etc. Presumably, the volume of refuse estimated was about 8 tonnes.

WASTE MANAGEMENT –TREATMENT

Waste management or waste disposal is the activity and actions required to manage waste from its inception to final disposal. This includes among other things collection, transport, treatment and disposal of waste together with monitoring and regulation. DPCU and the environmentahealth officer have tasked Nananom to allocate plots of land at their various communities to be used as sanitation sites.

LANDFILL MANAGEMENT

A landfill site, also known as dumping ground is a site for the disposal of waste materials by burial with a thin layer of soil. This is the ideal and hygienic way of treating waste. Waste collection is a part of the waste management process and involves the transfer of solid waste from the point of use and disposal to the point of treatment or landfill site.

DRAINAGE SYSTEM

The District can only boast of very limited drainage system, located in some few communities like: Asokwa, Brofoyedru and Fumso.  With the absence of these systems, erosions are formed and finally created gulleys in-between houses.   Poor drainage system can cause the following:

Disease(s) out break

Flooding

Damage to property (eg. Premises)

It is therefore the responsibility of the District Assembly to construct more drains in order to alleviate some of these disasters.

Environmental Health

The environment within the District has been characterized by poor sanitary management and air and water pollution as a result of the ongoing human activities for several years.  Activities such as charcoal burning, sand winning, unorthodox means of fishing by using chemicals and its attendant health hazard have contributed immensely to air and water pollution. In this regard an Environmental Management Plan needs to be prepared to tackle the problems.

Again, the inadequate staff, logistics and low motivation of workers and poor working environment have affected the performance of the environmental health staff in the discharge of their duties.   This has resulted in filth in households, towns and streets.

To salvage this situation and create a clean District, programmes such as the institution of monthly clean-up exercises in all the communities by central government would be vigorously pursued. Also, organisation of communal labour in various communities during the taboo days needs to be re-visited to put a facelift in our communities as far as cleanliness is concerned.

MARKETS

Adansi Asokwa District has five (5) markets situated at Fumso, Asokwa, Bodwesango, Aboabo and Nsokote. The Assembly labourers take charge of cleaning the market whilst staff of Zoomlion clean the streets.

FOOD HYGIENE

Food Hygiene education has been instituted for vendors. Some of the specifics food hygiene practices include fly proofing of the food, preparing and selling at hygienic environment, practicing of proper hand washing with soap.

Annual medical screening of food vendors are also conducted. The aim is to control or reduce the incidence of communicable diseases like Typhoid, Dysentery, Hepatitis “B/A” etc. infections through food or drink. The second aim is to generate revenue to the Assembly.