According to the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS), research from the 2022 Ghana Demographic and Health Survey (GDHS) has recorded that one in five persons in Ghana do not have enough drinking water.
In a statement by the service, the Northern region recorded the highest percentage, where one in every three households did not have access to portable drinking water, amounting to 32.1%, however, the Upper East region recorded the lowest percentage of persons without drinking water in abundance.
“Findings from the 2022 Ghana Demographic and Health Survey (GDHS) indicate that one in every five (19.1%) persons in Ghana did not have enough drinking water in the month preceding the survey. In the Northern Region, which recorded the highest percentage, one in every three (32.1%) persons did not have adequate drinking water. Oti (31.2%) and North East (26.2%) were the regions with the next highest percentage that did not have
enough drinking water. The Upper East (14.0%) and Ashanti (14.5%) regions recorded the lowest percentage of persons without drinking water in sufficient quantities, with figures less than half those of the Northern and Oti regions”, excerpts of the release read.
GSS emphasized that, nationally, 6.5 percent of the population travelled more than 30 minutes round-trip to
obtain drinking water as well as three in every five (59.9%) persons in Ghana did not have water on their premises.
“Three in every five (59.9%) persons in Ghana did not have water on their premises. Nine in every ten persons (89.8%) in the Savannah Region did not have water on their premises, the highest recorded and 1.5 times higher than the national average. North East (86.5%) and Oti (83.5%) regions have the second and third highest percent of the population without water on their premises. Greater Accra (22.0%) recorded the lowest percentage
of the population without water on the premises. Volta Region (47.1%) is the only other region where less than half of the population does not have water on the premises”, the service stated.
83.5 percent of the population had at least basic drinking water service, defined as an improved water source with either water on the premises or a round-trip collection time of 30 minutes or less, whereas Greater Accra and Ashanti region recorded the highest population with access to basic water services with 97.7% and 94.8% per the survey.
The 2022 GDHS disclosed that eight in every 10 (82.3%) of persons using unprotected dug wells or springs water sources did not treat their water, similarly, eight in every 10 (84.3%) persons using surface water, that is, drinking water directly from a river, dam, lake, pond, stream, canal, or irrigation canal) did not treat their water.
READ GSS STATEMENT BELOW:
World Water Day press release from GSS