SWITCH Accra visioning and scenario planning workshop August 23rd to 24th August,

2007
STATE OF WATER SUPPLY IN ACCRA

Esi Awuah and David Assan

INTRODUCTION
The urban population is increasing at such a fast rate and will continue to do so over the
next few years. Almost half of the urban residents in the country live in the two biggest
cities of Accra and Kumasi. Migration from rural areas to towns and cities drives urban
growth. If this phenomenon persists, by 2020, city dwellers will outnumber those living in
rural areas, and the country’s urban population will more than double in size.

A large percentage of Ghana’s urban population is estimated to be below the official

poverty line. The urban poor seem to be forgotten in national development activities.
Water, as an essential part of the requirement of life, is not a commodity easily attained by
the urban poor since they constitute a large proportion of urban dwellers.
Only about 7% of urban dwellers in Accra have in-house piped water, and water supply
across the city is inconsistent. All urban residents pay for water, but the cost of water
purchased by the poor from neighbors can sometimes be as much as 20 times higher
(Taylor et al, 2002).

In line with the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) goal 7 which seeks to ensure
environmental sustainability, targets have been set to halve, by 2015, the proportion of
people without sustainable access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation (MDG report,
2006). In order for any nation to achieve this target, it has to ensure proper management of
its water resources and improve its water supply potential.
Ghana wishes to achieve 85% reduction of people without access to safe drinking water
and sanitation by 2015.

The Environmental Kuznets Curve Hypothesis shows that increase income leads to
improvement in water supply services. Improvement in water supply services also leads to
poverty reduction at the micro level (Galiani et al. 2005) and stimulates economic growth
at the macro level (Barbier, 2004) via its ‘spillover effects’.
The state of water supply in Accra is problem that has been with the country for a long
time. This document seeks to establish the actual state of affairs and look at the way
forward to finding a lasting solution to this problem.

METHODOLOGY
The research methodology employed in this report was desktop study and visits to key
institutions. In the desktop study, information was obtained from literature on the subject.
Visits to key institutions included the Accra head office of the GWCL where current data
was obtained on the demand and supply of water in Accra.
SWITCH Accra visioning and scenario planning workshop August 23rd to 24th August,
2007
ACCRA AS A CASE STUDY
Accra is located on the East coast of Ghana, approximately 5o North of the Equator,
between longitudes 0o 05” West and 0o 20” West and between latitudes 5o 30” North and 5o
5’ North. The city is one of the 5 districts that make the greater Accra region.
AMA covers an area of 17,362 ha. It falls within the dry equatorial climatic region, and it
receives an average annual rainfall of 810 mm/year. The climate is hot and humid, with
mean temperatures varying from 24oC in August and 27oC in March.
The area is characterized by the coastal savannah vegetation type and it is subject to severe
erosion due to its proximity to continental shelf, strong coastal and wind action
(Lunani, 2007).

WATER SUPPLY IN ACCRA

Accra’s urban population is increasing at a fast rate and as such much pressure has been put
on the existing water supply system which is already over used. In Accra and the Tema
metropolitan Area, the water supply is undertaken by the GWCL which is supplied with
water from two sources, that is the Weija Waterworks and the Kpong Waterworks. A map
showing the Accra Metropolitan Area with sub-metros has been attached as an appendix.

The Weija Waterworks

The Weija Waterworks is located on the Densu River and is located 15 km west of Accra.
The raw water is drawn from the Densu River impounded by the Weija Dam. From the
intake, the water is pumped to the treatment works via two pumping stations.

STATE OF AFFAIRS
Accra’s urban population is increasing at a fast rate and as such much pressure has been
put on the existing water supply system which is already over used. In Accra and the Tema
metropolitan Area, the water supply is undertaken by the GWCL which is supplied with
water from two sources, that is the Weija Waterworks and the Kpong Waterworks. The
SWITCH Accra visioning and scenario planning workshop August 23rd to 24th August,
2007
operation and maintenance has been privatized to Aqua Vitens Rand a water company from
.Netherlands and South Africa.

Table 1 Current water demand for Accra

AREA TOTAL TOTAL SUPPLY DEFICIT
DEMAND(m /day) (m3/day)
3
(m3/day)

Accra-West 184,545 195,454 -10,909 *

Accra-East 145,909 77,273 68,636

Tema 129,091 95,454 33,637

Source: GWCL (2003)

*The negative sign means there are excess water after serving demand

From the table above, current demands far exceeds supply of potable drinking water in the
Greater Accra Metropolis.

PROBLEMS IN THE WATER SUPPLY SECTOR

The problem of inadequate supply of portable drinking water in Accra is enormous. It
involves many different aspects of legal, institutional framework, inadequate resources and
the lack of interest by stakeholders.

FUTURE DEMANDS AND TRENDS AT A GROWTH RATE OF 3.5%

SWITCH Accra visioning and scenario planning workshop August 23rd to 24th August,
2007

From the 2000 population census, AMA’s population stood at 1,658,937 with a
population growth rate of 3.4% (Ghana Statistical Services, 2002). The overall annual
average income of Accra is $915 per capita. Currently, the water demand of ATMA stands
at about 453,704 m3/d (GWCL, 2007) but only 320,000 m3/d of this demand which
amounts to about 71% is met by GWCL.
It is estimated that in the near future, if the growth rate remains the same, the population of
ATMA will increase to almost 5 million by the year 2030. Increase in population brings
along increase in water demand and if the current water resources are not properly
utilized, the water supply system will collapse.
The above scenario indicates that at this rate of population growth, the water demand of
ATMA will shoot from below 500,000 m3/d to over 1 million m3/d in the year 2030.
These statistics depicts the seriousness of the situaton and if measures are not taken to find
a solution to the problem, then the city’s water supply system will be under treat of
collapse.
In order to improve the water supply situation in Accra, the following remedial measures have
been proposed;
• Recycle of greywater
This involves the reuse of greywater from laundries and bathrooms for household activities
such as ornamental gardening and lawn watering as well as flushing of toilets. This will
reduce the amount of potable water used for such activities thus saving on water bills.
• Groundwater harvesting
Groundwater harvesting involves the utilization of sub-surface water by means of wells and
boreholes. Water obtained by such means may be directly used or treated before consumption.
If the Accra Metropolitan Assembly makes technical expertise and funds available to assist
any individual or organization that wants to use groundwater, it will help in reducing the
existing demands on the supply network.
• Rainwater harvesting
SWITCH Accra visioning and scenario planning workshop August 23rd to 24th August,
2007
Rainwater harvesting is the collection of rainwater for future use. It is practiced during the
rainy season to store water to be used during the dry season. Rainwater is relatively clean but
the quality is determined by factors such as the type of roofing material used, amount of
filtering achieved, the condition of storage tanks and long period of dryness.
When this practice is encouraged on a large scale, it will help to reduce the stress on the
supply network.

CONCLUSION
Increase in population growth in urban areas has placed an enormous load on the city’s
water supply system. These results in demand far exceeding supply and thus resulting
in excercive water shortage to some residents in the urban areas. This is a general
phenomena pertaining to the African continent as a whole since Africa has the lowest
percentage in terms of access to water and sanitation services.
In Ghana, urban water supply is the sole responsibility of the GWCL and CWSA for
rural communities. Accra, being an urban area is supplied by GWCL who obtain their
water source from the Densu River and the Volta River by way of the Weija and the
Kpong dams respectively. Rapid population growth has caused the water supply
system in Accra to operate below expectation with about 40% of urban residents not
served.
The urban poor as defined by the Living Standard Measurement are the hardest hit by the
shortage in supply and hence have to rely on neighbours and water vendors for their
daily water supply and end up paying about 20 times more than those connected to and
served by the GWCL distribution network (Taylor et al, 2002).
In order to solve the problem of water shortage, the Government of Ghana has
obtained assistance from its donor partners to rehabilitate and expand facilities at the two
treatment plant to increase output. The East-West interconnection pipeline is also another
remedial measure aimed at reducing the gap between demand and supply.