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To assess the suitability of water sources for drinking purposes, samples were taken from groundwater sources (boreholes and hand-dug wells) used for drinking water in the Dodowa area of Ghana. The samples were analyzed for the presence of fecal indicator bacteria (Escherichia coli) and viruses (Adenovirus and Rotavirus), using membrane filtration with plating and glass wool filtration with quantitative polymerase chain reaction (PCR), respectively. In addition, sanitary inspection of surroundings of the sources was conducted to identify their vulnerability to pollution. The presence of viruses was also assessed in water samples from the Dodowa River. More than 70% of the hand-dug wells were sited within 10 m of nearby sources of contamination. All sources contained E. coli bacteria, and their numbers in samples of water between dug wells and boreholes showed no significant difference (p = 0.48). Quantitative PCR results for Adenovirus indicated 27% and 55% were positive for the boreholes and hand-dug wells, respectively. Samples from all boreholes tested negative for the presence of Rotavirus while 27% of the dug wells were positive for Rotavirus. PCR tests of 20% of groundwater samples were inhibited. Based on these results we concluded that there is systemic microbial and fecal contamination of groundwater in the area. On-site sanitation facilities, e.g., pit latrines and unlined wastewater drains, are likely the most common sources of fecal contamination of groundwater in the area. Water abstracted from groundwater sources needs to be treated before use for consumption purposes. In addition, efforts should be made to delineate protected areas around groundwater abstraction points to minimize contamination from point sources of pollution.

The objective assessment of the level of odour in on-site sanitation systems is required when evaluating emerging technology options and maintenance practices. The purpose of this study was to measure the concentrations of hydrogen sulphide and ammonia as surrogates of odour using a portable gas detector, and assess whether the concentrations of the compounds correlate with the perception of users of the facilities. The Aeroqual 500 portable gas detector with hydrogen sulphide and ammonia sensor heads was used to measure the concentrations of the compounds in 88 private and seven communal latrines sampled from a peri-urban community in Ghana. The odour perception of 189 and 165 users of private and communal latrines, respectively, was assessed on an ordinal scale. It was found that the concentrations of hydrogen sulphide and ammonia measured with the gas detector reflected the known variation of odour levels among different technology options and the perceptions of the latrine users. The concentrations of hydrogen sulphide measured in the water closet, ventilated improved pit (VIP) and the simple pit latrines were 0.01, 0.03 and 0.13 ppm, respectively; those of ammonia were undetected for the water closet, and 0.30 and 3.27 ppm for the VIP and simple pit latrines, respectively. The Pearson correlation coefficient between hydrogen sulphide concentrations and user perception of odour (−0.234) was significant at 5 % level (p = 0.022) but that for ammonia was not. The results indicate that a portable hydrogen sulphide detector may be employed to objectively assess the effectiveness of new latrine designs and maintenance practices aimed at reducing odour in latrines.

In this study, downwind odour concentrations from a communal toilet facility were measured by trained human receptors using the plume method over a 10 day period from mid-May to mid-June 2015 over an approximate downwind area of 1000 m2 (about 800 m long and 30 m). Source emission measurements and extensive meteorological data were collected along with the field odor concentration measurements. Modelling of the measurement events at specific receptor locations using the US EPA SCREEN3 model was compared to field odor measurements at the same locations. The study also showed how subjectivity in the use of the human nose in measuring odour strength could be reduced by selecting odour inspectors using the “Standard Procedure for Testing Individual Odour Sensitivity”. Also an odour dispersion model using the US EPA SCREEN3 model was built and simulated and the output of the simulated model compared with the measured data. A paired t-test, t(5) = -1.29, p = 0.902 (p > 0.05), showed that there was no statistically significant difference between simulated model output and measured data, hence the possible of using odour dispersion models improved operation of a communal toilet in relation to odour impact.

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to present the latrine ownership ladder as a conceptual policy framework to enhance sanitation uptake in low-income peri-urban areas. Design/methodology/approach – The paper draws from literature and a case study in a Ghanaian peri-urban community to highlight the challenges that undermine sanitation uptake in low-income peri-urban areas and the prospects of various levels of facility sharing as conceived in the latrine ownership ladder approach. Findings – The authors argue that the infrastructural and other socio-economic challenges of low-income peri-urban areas prevent some households from acquiring their own latrines. For such households, a more responsive approach to latrine promotion and prevention of open defecation would be the recognition of shared ownership regimes such as co-tenant shared, neighbourhood shared and community shared, in addition to the promotion of household latrines. The paper identifies provision of special concessions for peri-urban areas in policy formulation, education and technical support to households, regulation and enforcement of sanitation by-laws among complimentary policy interventions to make the latrine ownership ladder approach more effective. Originality/value – The paper provides an insight into the debate on redefining improved sanitation in the post-2015 era of the Millennium Development Goals and offers policy alternatives to policy makers in low-income countries seeking to accelerate the uptake of improved latrines among peri-urban and urban slum dwellers.

Regular usage of latrines is crucial to public health. This study was conducted in a Ghanaian peri-urban setting to understand the factors that influence the usage of household and communal latrines and to discuss potential interventions to address existing barriers to regular usage. Data was collected using household survey questionnaires orally administered to 189 and 283 respondents with access to private and communal latrines respectively, five focus group discussions with gender and age groups, as well as observations at latrines. It was found that only 15 % of households had access to latrines at home while the rest depended on communal latrines or practised open defecation. The ventilated improved pit latrine was the commonest technology used by 47 % of households with private latrines. The residents ranked safety and privacy as the most important factors that influenced their decision to use any latrine. For private latrines, desludging challenges (14 %) and intense odour (7 %) were the most significant technical barriers while the most significant non-technical barriers were lack of immediate access when the latrine is locked or busy (28 %). For communal latrines, the major technical barrier was intense odour (23 %) while the major non-technical barriers were distance to latrines (28 %), user fees (21 %) and unhygienic conditions (7 %). Regular latrine usage in the study setting may be enhanced by technical support to address desludging challenges and control odour in latrines, as well as social interventions to make communal latrines affordable and more hygienic.

Malodour has been identified as a barrier to utilization of sanitation facilities. It is generally recognized that for effective odour control measures to be implemented, the problem must first be quantified. With today's increasing levels of development, odour nuisance has become a major environmental issue. Citizen complaints about and reaction to odours caused by landfills (including refuse dump sites), waste water treatment plants (most of which are non-functional), public (communal) toilets, industrial processes, and other sources have made it difficult to secure sites for such facilities. Current trends show a community impact approach based on citizen involvement. This paper discusses a rapid baseline survey carried out as part of a community odour annoyance study conducted in Ayigya Zongo, an urban poor community in the Kumasi Metropolis in Ghana. The study quantified the public perception (impact) of all odours in the community through a face-to-face interview survey utilizing a structured questionnaire protocol. Responses from the survey were analysed with SPSS software program (version 20.0). Methods, results, and conclusions of the study are each discussed.

Water insecurity is a growing concern globally, especially for developing countries, where a range of factors including urbanization are putting pressure on water provisioning systems. The role of groundwater and aquifers in buffering the effects of climate variability is increasingly acknowledged, but it can only be fully realized with a more robust understanding of groundwater as a resource, and how use of it and dependency on it differ. Accra and its hinterland exemplify an African city with chronic water shortages, where groundwater resources offer opportunities to improve resilience against recurring droughts and general water insecurity. Based on a mixed-methods study of a peri-urban township, it was found that for end users, particularly poor urban households, resilience is an every-day matter of ensuring access from different sources, for different purposes, while attention to drinking water safety is falling behind. Planners and decision makers should take their cue from how households have developed coping mechanisms by diversifying, and move away from the focus on large infrastructure and centralized water supply solutions. Conjunctive use, managed aquifer recharge, and suitable treatment measures are vital to make groundwater a strategic resource on the urban agenda.

Adequate human resources (HR) capacity in the water and sanitation sector plays a pivotal role in improving and sustaining access to potable water and improved sanitation. This study highlights the HR capacity and gaps in Ghana's water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) sector. It is based on data collected from five public sector organisations, six non-governmental organisations (NGOs), 14 private sector institutions and 12 training institutions. The results indicate that the proportion of technical HR was high (75%) in water service delivery, while technical personnel in the sanitation sub-sector was low (2%), leading to low sanitation coverage and ineffective sanitation service delivery. The female proportion ranged from 16 to 44% (average of 22%). There was a shortage of technical personnel in the public WASH sector due to unattractive working conditions, attrition and lack of qualified graduates to fill vacant positions. Average annual graduates' supply from non-technical programmes to the WASH sector is five times more than that from technical programmes. There was a lack of commitment to implement policies on developing adequate HR capacity in the WASH sector due to weak institutional arrangement. There is the need to develop policies on HR career progression and capacity building programmes as well as gender-sensitive recruitment policies for the WASH sector.

Private sector involvement in solid waste management in developing countries has increased, but the effect is not always clear. This study assesses how it has been organized in five cities in Ghana, what has been its effect and what lessons for private sector development in developing countries can be drawn. Data were collected from 25 private companies and a sample of 1200 households. More than 60% of solid waste in Ghanaian cities is now collected by private enterprises. Sometimes, and increasingly, competitive bidding takes place, although sometimes no bidding is organized leading to rendering of this service and no contract being signed. Local governments and local solid waste companies have not changed to more customer-oriented delivery because of the slow pace of charging users and the resulting low rate of cost recovery. The participation of the population has been limited, which contributes to low cost recovery. However, a gradual better functioning of the system put in place is shown. We observed an increasing use of competitive bidding, signing of contracts and city-wide user charging. Keywords Solid waste, private sector involvement, urban management, cost recovery, pay-as-you-throw (PAYT)

This paper examines the performance of partnerships between local authorities (District Assemblies) and private operators (POs) in the community managed small towns’ water service delivery in Ghana. Since 2002, partnerships in the form of management contracts are increasing especially for towns with more than 10,000 inhabitants but there has been no systematic analysis of the partnerships. Using a case study approach based on five selected community managed piped systems; three under private operator partnerships and two under direct Community Ownership and Management as study controls, the study focused on the partnership development, partnership relationship between stakeholders and the outcome of the service. The study revealed that the partnership emerged as a result of the relatively large communities and/or the complexity of the systems. Water and Sanitation Development Boards (WSDBs) are community representatives with the responsibility of overseeing the management contracts with private operators or directly managing the water systems through hired operating staff. With time the management contracts have improved as some earlier defects have been corrected in subsequent contracts. Yet some contracts suffered post-contract opportunism, weak monitoring and regulation by the District Assembly (DA), political interference in tariffs setting and removal of WSDBs members after change of government. Conflicts between the DAs and the Water and Sanitation Development Boards (WSDBs) were common resulting in direct management by the District Assembly. The success or failure of the partnership is linked to degree of conflict resolution amongst the stakeholders as well as external factors. The study also discusses the outcome of the partnerships in relation to the quality of water service delivered.

The collection of municipal solid waste accounts for 60% to 80% of total management cost. This study determined the factors driving operating cost and developed cost functions for municipal solid waste collection systems in Ghana. Data on cost variables from seventy systems were used to estimate the parameters of log-linear cost functions. Results from the study led to the conclusion that quantity of waste collected, fuel consumed and distance travelled increase significantly and explain about 63.0% of the variation in operating cost. The amount of fuel consumed and quantity of waste collected varied significantly and explained about 67.4% of the variation in operating cost of systems from low waste generating sources. For high waste generating sources, the distance travelled, fuel consumed and quantity of waste collected significantly and better explained (85.4%) the variation in operating cost. This can be attributed to the fact that such systems are from places with better facilities. The cost function for high waste generating sources can comparatively better aid decision making in terms of operations, management, investment and policy actions. Cost-effective solid waste collection schemes should therefore consider efficient management of fuel consumed, quantity of waste generated and distance travelled.

This paper presents evidence of the potential for institutional water conservation in a developing country using a university campus in Kumasi, Ghana, as a case study and suggests measures for reducing water demand in institutions. A water end-use survey was conducted using a sample of 144 students from six halls of residence to determine lavatory faucet (tap), showerhead and water closet water-use. The average per capita water use was 115.12 ± 5.33 litres per day at 95% confidence level. Results of the water end-use analysis showed that students use high quantities of water for bathing (61.90 ± 4.06 litres per capita per day at 95% confidence level). There is a potential for reducing the annual water demand by 30.85% through water conservation measures such as retrofitting with water-efficient showerheads and water closets. The payback period for the cost of retrofitting in the current study was found to be 6.5 years.

Recovering the cost of water services is a major obstacle in achieving a sustainable drinking water supply in developing countries. This paper assesses the levels of cost recovery, household willingness and ability to pay for the full supply cost of water services, and financial management. The study was conducted in five out of 30 community-managed piped systems in Ashanti region, Ghana. The study shows that the existing tariffs are not sufficient to recover the full supply cost of the service based on the guidelines of the Government Community Water Supply and Sanitation Agency (CWSA). Using 5% of household income as the ability-to-pay criteria, 67-87% of the households in the five communities could pay the full supply cost of the service. The poor recovery of the supply cost threatens the long-term financial sustainability of the small towns' water supply sector.

Government failures call for private sector involvement in solid waste service provision which requires government regulation. Surveys of 1,300 households, 25 private companies and five local governments were conducted in five cities in Ghana to assess the regulatory practices in solid waste collection. The results showed that there were weak regulatory practices and non-adherence to contractual obligations. Service quality and cost recovery were affected by unsigned contracts, the long period before revision of collection fees and service charges, delayed payment of subsidy (more than a year) and no interest on money delayed. These weak regulatory practices affected investment in new tracks and did not provide incentive for private sector growth and development. But a gradual well-functioning system was emerging, with two competitive bidding and signing of contracts in two cities. The solution to the problem of solid waste management hinges on adherence to formal rules, such as competitive bidding, signing of and adhering to contracts, the use of appropriate cost recovery mechanisms, and the restructuring of institutional arrangements to enforce legislation.

This paper shows who the poor are in the slums of Accra and what kind of institutional arrangements they have to obtain drinking water and to solve their sanitary problems. The two most promising options were collaboration with the utility, which would provide standpipes or engage with private suppliers. We will analyse these options in more detail to show that they are serving the poor and can be benchmarked. That could lead to a situation where the achievements would be measured regularly and would imply that an increasing number of poor would be served, while the quality and price of the drinking water would be assured at a certain level. Similar arrangements are possible for the sanitation sector, where the Accra Metropolitan Authority is the responsible organisation.

Objective: This study was undertaken to examine the potential of pay-as-you-throw (PAYT) as a cost recovery mechanism, its impacts on solid waste collection services and the challenges associated with its implementation in the Kumasi Metropolis, Ghana. Materials and Methods: Data were collected by weighing 262 head-loads of solid waste at communal container sites and recording their corresponding user charges in 14 low and middleincome communities in Kumasi. A household survey involving 80 randomly selected households patronizing communal disposal systems was undertaken to assess their perceptions of PAYT. In-depth interviews with heads of six private solid waste management companies and one with the Waste Management Department of the local authority were also conducted. Results: The study showed that the average revenue generated per ton of waste disposed into communal containers was GH¢ 17.07 (US$11.38). This is 70% higher than the collection fee paid to private waste management companies prior to the implementation of the PAYT. Each communal container accrues an average revenue of GH¢ 153 (≈US$103) when filled to capacity. However, a significant proportion of residents (80%) claimed not to have been informed about the PAYT mechanism prior to its implementation. Although PAYT has improved service levels due to regular pickup of communal containers, it is confronted with challenges including, inequitable user charges, illegal dumping of waste into communal containers at night; non-payment of user charges; and indiscriminate dumping of waste at unapproved locations. Conclusion: PAYT approach has the potential to ensure cost recovery and should be sustained. The local authority need to ensure equitable user charges; allocate buy-back points; undertake intensive public education on the PAYT; and monitor private waste management companies against exorbitant user charges.

Water is conveyed to consumers through systems that generally rely heavily on energy. The dependence on energy is a major challenge to utility providers because of frequent variation in energy prices. This paper assesses the effect of energy price changes on the financial sustainability of water facilities. It further investigates the proportion of energy cost to total costs of water supply. The study is based on a field survey that targeted five small town water systems and 15 water systems existing under the urban water sector in the Greater Accra and Ashanti regions of Ghana. The results show that energy (diesel and electricity) expenditure forms substantial component of water supply cost. The proportions of energy to total supply costs for small town and urban water systems are 31% and 29%, respectively. The total operational costs per water supply stand at 1.19 US$/m3 and 0.44 US$/m3 for small town and urban water systems respectively. The energy costs per water supply for small town and urban water systems are 0.40 US$/m3 and 0.13 US$/m3, respectively. Results further show that diesel-driven water systems are more sensitive to energy price changes than those of electricity-driven systems; therefore making financial profit from diesel-driven systems is highly elastic to diesel price changes. The results thus indicate that urban water systems are more efficient than small town water systems in terms of both energy and operational costs.

Waste diversion from landfills has generally been neglected in the developing world despite its potential to prolong the lifespan of landfills and generate revenues. This study aims at characterizing diverted solid waste fractions at communal collection points in seven communities and determining the trends in landfilled solid waste due to the Pay-As-You-Throw (PAYT) mechanism. It is based on quantitative measurements of diverted waste by informal waste pickers at communal collection points in seven communities in the Kumasi metropolis and analysis of landfilled waste records prior to and after the introduction of the PAYT mechanism. The study shows a daily diversion rate of 19.4±9.2kg per informal waste picker per day with no statistically significant difference (p = 0.29). This constitutes just 0.5w/w% of the total waste stream at communal collection points. The diverted waste is dominated by plastics (50%) and metals (29%). Generally, the diverted waste quantities are hugely dependent on the storage capacities of the informal waste pickers while the types of recovered items depend on readily available market. The introduction of the PAYT system, as observed from the study, immediately caused a decline (28%) in waste disposed of at communal collection points but steadily appreciated with time (26% and 13% consecutive reductions in subsequent years). The study recommends support for the informal sector, Public-Private Partnerships for waste recycling and intensive public education on PAYT mechanism prior to and after its introduction.