How Can We Improve Water Quality Management, Water Equity, and Non-Revenue Water in Ghana?

Rapid urbanization has strained Ghana’s urban water systems. Ghana’s urban population has more than tripled over the last three decades, rising from approximately five million (1990) to more than 18 million (2021), with over half (57 percent) of the country’s population now living in urban areas. This rapid rate of urbanization is outstripping the expansion of urban water infrastructure. As a result of insufficient supply, consumers face intermittent service delivery and water rationing and must rely on other, non-regulated water sources such as informal vendors and boreholes.

This inception report outlines how USAID’s URBAN WASH Activity will assess three core challenges faced by Ghana Water Company Limited (GWCL) in Kumasi and Tamale: water quality, equity, and non-revenue water. It describes the selection process that led to identifying the two target cities (Kumasi and Tamale); the research activities to be implemented to address the research questions; data collection, quality assurance, and management; and stakeholder engagement and dissemination.

Study Design

URBAN WASH collaborated with Ghana Water Company Limited and USAID/Ghana to select the two study cities for the Buy-in activity. The initial intention was to select two Northern cities according to USAID/Ghana’s current Country Development Cooperation Strategy (CDCS) Development Objective 3 (DO3), which is focused on the unique implementation challenges faced in the northern regions of Ghana. However, URBAN WASH considered priority concerns expressed by Ghana Water Company Limited in the selection process and aimed to include at least one northern city as part of the Buy-in activity to balance USAID/Ghana’s and Ghana Water Company Limited’s requests.

As a first step, Ghana Water Company Limited provided a list of six priority cities with existing challenges in water quality, equity, and/or non-revenue water: Koforidua, Takoradi, Kumasi, Wa, Tamale, and Bolgatanga. While Kumasi, Koforidua, and Takoradi are not in the northern regions, Ghana Water Company Limited shortlisted these cities because of specific interest in their water quality issues caused by local surface mining activities, which have been increasing in scale over the past several years with the introduction of larger machinery. Ghana Water Company Limited shared preliminary information via e-mail about each shortlisted city and provided contact information for the respective local Regional Chief Managers (RCMs).

A map of Ghana highlighting six priority cities provided by Ghana Water Company Limited with existing challenges in water quality, equity, and/or non-revenue water: Koforidua, Takoradi, Kumasi, Wa, Tamale, and Bolgatanga.

URBAN WASH applied a selection criterion to select the two target cities (Kumasi and Tamale) and exchanged phone calls and e-mails to gather information about the water quality, equity, and non-revenue water issues and relevant existing programs in each city.

This resource was developed by USAID URBAN WASH. This brief was made possible by the support of the American People through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). The content of this brief is the responsibility of Tetra Tech and The Aquaya Institute and does not necessarily reflect the views of USAID or the United States Government.