The study to be undertaken in collaboration with Aquaya Institute is part of a five-year project dubbed Urban Resilience by Building Partnerships and Applying New Evidence in WASH (URBAN WASH) is under the USAID’s global Water Strategy Action Research initiative that seeks to generate evidence to improve the effectiveness of investments in water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) and water resource management.

In addition to focusing on financial sustainability and effectiveness of existing pro-poor water subsidy projects in Accra to reach the most vulnerable, it will also focus on water quality, water equity and non-revenue water of the GWL two water systems in Kumasi and Tamale.

Under the project, the GWL is expected to pilot new urban drinking water interventions in addition to its pilot water connection subsidy project which is currently benefiting 20,000 residents in low-income communities in Accra.

Launching the initiative in Accra, the Minister for Sanitation and Water Resources, Cecilia Abena Dapaah, in a speech read on her behalf by the Director in charge of Administration at the Ministry, Patricia Dovi Sampson, said the initiative would generate evidence which would provide reliable information to enhance effective decision making.

She said it would enhance efforts by the government and its partners to provide sustainable water and sanitation services in the country.

The government through the ministry, she said, continued to make efforts to make WASH services accessible to all, such as creating a Low-Income Consumer Support Department (LICSD) within the GWL dedicated to addressing the water needs of low-income customers in urban and peri-urban areas and ensuring equity in water services delivery.

MoU

The Managing Director for GWL, Dr Clifford A. Braimah, said GWL recognised that access to safe water was “not only a basic human right, but also a key driver of economic growth, social development and environmental sustainability”.

GWL, he said, signed a memorandum of understanding with USAID URBAN WASH project in March 2023 for the project which has the potential to transform the WASH landscape in Ghana and beyond.

Partnering with the URBAN WASH project, he said, aligned perfectly with GWL’s mission to meet the increasing demand for better water services delivery in urban Ghana.

Growing population

Acting Health Office Director, Heather Robinson, said over the past 30 years, Ghana's urban population had more than tripled, but the water supply in cities had not grown at the same pace.

By 2050, she said, it was expected that around 70 per cent of Ghanaians would live in urban areas such as Accra, Kumasi, and Tamale yet in the Greater Accra Region, less than 30 per cent of households in low-income areas have access to tap water.

“We understand that water security is crucial for health, prosperity, stability and resilience.

Without proper planning for these services, rapid urbanisation makes it difficult for water companies to provide safe and reliable water to everyone, particularly the poorest,” she said.