Chemical drinking water quality in Ghana: Water costs and scope for advanced treatment

Abstract

24To reduce child mortality and improve health in Ghana boreholes and wells are being installed across 25 the country by the private sector, NGOs and the Ghanaian government. Water quality is not generally 26 monitored once a water source has been improved. Water supplies were sampled across Ghana from 27 mostly boreholes, wells and rivers as well as some piped water from the different regions and analysed 28for the chemical quality. Chemical water quality was found to exceed the WHO guidelines in 38% of 29 samples, while pH varied from 3.7 to 8.9. Excess levels of nitrate (NO 3 -) were found in 21% of the 30 samples, manganese (Mn) and fluoride (F -) in 11% and 6.7%, respectively. Heavy metals such as lead 31 (Pb), arsenic (As) and uranium (U) were localised to mining areas. Elements without health based 32 guideline values such as aluminium (Al, 95%) and chloride (Cl, 5.7%) were found above the 33 provisional guideline value. 34 35Economic information was gathered to identify water costs and ability to pay. Capital costs of wells 36and boreholes are about £1200 and £3800 respectively. The majority of installation costs are generally 37 paid by government or NGO, while the maintenance is expected to be covered by the community. At 38 least 58% of the communities had a water payment system in place, either an annual fee/one-off fee or 39 "pay-as-you-fetch". The annual fee was between £0.3-21, while the boreholes had a water collection 40 fee of £0.07-0.7/m 3 , many wells were free. Interestingly, the most expensive water (£2.9-3.5/m 3 ) was 41 brought by truck. Many groundwater sources were not used due to poor chemical water quality. 42Considering the cost of unsuccessful borehole development, the potential for integrating suitable water 43 treatment into the capital and maintenance costs of water sources is discussed. Additionally, many 44 sources were not in use due to lack of water capacity, equipment malfunction or lack of economic 45 resources to repair and maintain equipment. Those issues need to be addressed in combination with 46 water quality, coordinated water supply provision and possible treatment to ensure sustainability of 47 improved water resources. 48 49 50

Assessment of Physical-Chemical Drinking Water Quality in the Logone Valley (Chad-Cameroon)

“…Mercury was marginally detected in some surface and ground waters in Ghana [4]. Another study conducted in Ghana [5] also found concentrations of lead, uranium and boron above the World Health Organisation (WHO) Guide Values (GVs) in restricted areas. Low metallic content was observed for most water samples analysed in Bangladesh [6].…”

Self-supply and accountability: to govern or not to govern groundwater for the (peri-) urban poor in Accra, Ghana

“…Emerging anthropogenic pollutants constitute a problem within shallow wells sited in areas of low-cost housing due to inadequate sanitation, household waste disposal, and poor well protection and construction (Sorensen et al 2015). The quality is generally not monitored once a borehole or well is constructed (Rossiter et al 2010). …”

“…This growth is already taking its toll on the capital in terms of water scarcity, intermittent and irregular supply and limits to expansion of services. But-despite slow progress initially-the country's government succeeded in completing a major policy intervention that became decisive for achieving the Millennium Development Goal on access to water by 2015, namely four projects that added some 300,000 m 3 of water per day to the Greater Accra Metropolitan Area (Republic of Ghana and UNDP 2015). Two of those were the Kpong Water Supply Expansion and the Kpong Intake Expansion Projects, carried out to improve efficiency and increase supply (Andoh 2015).…”

Assessing Water Quality of Murum Reservoir Halfway Through Impoundment

“…Nyanti et al (2012) also observed the low dissolved oxygen (DO) in Bakun Dam and anoxic level at 1 to 4 m depths due to decomposition of submerged carbonaceaous materials. Changes in water quality could affect the aquatic life by altering the habitats which ultimately decreases the primary productivity (Rossiter et al 2010). Therefore, it is important to identify the changes in water quality upon impoundment how it would affect the aquatic life.…”