What is the Water Quality in the Wassa East District in Ghana?

Surveyed September-October 2023

Wassa East District is one of the fourteen districts in the Western Region of Ghana. It was initially part of the then-larger Mpohor/Wassa East District in 1988, created by the former Wassa-Fiase-Mpohor District Council. The southwest part of the district was split off to create Mpohor District on 28 June 2012; thus, the remaining part has been renamed Wassa East District. The district assembly is located in the eastern part of the Western Region and has Daboase as its capital town.

The Aquaya Institute is coordinating longitudinal water quality monitoring in two target districts in Ghana (WaterTRACS). In September-October 2023, Aquaya conducted surveys and water quality testing at households, water points, schools, and healthcare facilities in Wassa East District. This effort builds upon prior monitoring.

Timeline of drinking water samples tested in Wassa East.
^{Healthcare facilities (HCF)}

Water points

Water from piped systems and boreholes with handpumps was safer than water from dug wells and surface water. In the most recent round, we conducted surveys and tested E. coli at 203 water points. 39% were free from microbial contamination, defined as E. coli <1 CFU/100 mL. Water was consistently safe from piped systems and boreholes with handpumps (67% were free from E. coli) and less safe from dug wells and surface water (2% were free from E. coli). Across all survey rounds, piped water was safest in the dry season (F1 and samples collected before the start of rain in the transitional seasons).

E. coli risk levels from water point samples collected at BL (N=215), F1 (N=135), F2 (N=202), and F3 (N=203) survey rounds.

Households

In the most recent survey, 26% of households provided packaged water (sachet or bottled) as a drinking water sample; 53% provided water from improved water points like piped systems, boreholes, and rainwater; and 21% provided water from unimproved water points like unprotected wells and surface water. Overall, 32% of the 234 drinking water samples were free from E. coli, and microbial water quality depended on the water source.

Packaged water was safer than other household drinking water sources. Nearly all (98%) packaged water samples – mostly sachet samples – were free from E. coli, while only 10% of samples from improved water points and 6% from unimproved water points were free from E. coli.

Institutions

In the most recent survey, we tested E. coli from water points at 46 schools and 20 healthcare facilities. About 83% of schools and all healthcare facilities used improved water points, and 82% had basic water service (i.e., had an improved water point on premises with water available).

Summary

^{This work (WaterTRACS) is supported by funding from the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation.}