Sanitation Situation

Sanitation is considered in planning cycles to be a necessary condition in the health of people after water. This sector needs much attention in the District. The provision of sanitary facilities/services fall short of expected minimal standards.

Solid Waste Collection

The district has a final refuse disposal sites. Presently the District Assembly takes care of the funding of collection, transportation and disposal of garbage throughout the district. It should be noted that crude dumping is generally practiced in all communities of the district and dumping sites are scattered all over.

However, the District Assembly in collaboration with Zoomlion Ghana Limited, a private waste management company is managing the sanitation situation in the District.

In its efforts to ensure an effective waste management in the district, the Obuasi East district adopted Government’s policy of making private sector the engine of growth and in the spirit of public private partnership, the Assembly ceded part of its waste management functions in the Central Business Area to Messrs. Zoomlion Ghana Limited.

Central Refuse Collection

There are seven (7) designated central solid waste collection points with twenty-two (22) twelve metre cube (12m3 ) skips and two (2) skip loaders in use for refuse evacuation to the final disposal site. Zoomlion Company Limited is responsible.

Liquid Waste Management

There are thirty-nine toilet facilities in the district. About sixty (80%) of houses in the district have access to domestic private toilets and forty (20%) without especially those communities at the periphery. People without access to domestic private toilet facilities rely on the public toilets.

Public latrines are fairly distributed in the district whilst smaller communities use pit latrines and open defecation. A proportion of the population uses household latrines ranging from WC and KVIP’s. However, there are a number of public and domestic latrines in the district. There ranges from WC, KVIP’s and Pit Latrines.

Sanitation activities are vigorously being pursued in the District Assembly. Liquid waste management in the District continues to be an overwhelming task. A large number of households and institutions are without household and institutional toilets. There is therefore always high demand for public toilets in the district.

Water Security

There is double maximum rainfall pattern as experienced in the district presents opportunity for rain harvesting. Access to safe water constitutes essential ingredients for safeguarding the health and lives of the people. Sources of water in the district are pipe borne water, boreholes, hand-dug wells fitted with pump, open hand dug wells, rivers/streams and rain water. Boreholes and pipe are the commonest sources of drinking water for the people in the District.

A cursory look at the map of the district reveals that the district abounds in water sources with streams, rivers and ponds in most parts of the district. However, these water sources are heavily polluted by the mining activities of AngloGold Ashanti and illegal miners popularly called galamsey.

This situation is further compounded by human activities like sand winning, indiscriminate defecation into rivers and streams. The non-availability of dumping sites in some communities has resulted in the use of some of these water bodies as dumping sites. A number of interventions have been implemented in the district and this has improved upon access to potable water supply.

Currently, the District in collaboration with the Community Water and Sanitation Agency is putting in measures with financial support from the Government of Ghana, to increase access to potable water to a greater proportion of the population in the district.

Access to Portable Water

Water is a very essential resource in every community’s development. It is therefore very important for every member of the community to have access to portable water for consumption. The need to assess the existing situation of water and sanitation in the process of the plan preparation is very crucial. The findings will serve as inputs which will advise both policy and strategy formulation.

Currently, there are 11 boreholes district wide. In all, access to potable water coverage is …...% as against target of 100%. The main sources of water supply in the district include pipe borne, boreholes and wells.

The following present potentials that could be tapped to improve the water situation in the District:

· Relatively high water table

· The presence of Community Water & Sanitation Plan

· Strong District Water and Sanitation Team

· Presence of Community Water and Sanitation Agency

· Internal Generated Funds and District Assembly Common Fund

· Well trained WATSAN Committee

· Trained Area Mechanics