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https://doi.org/10.56556/gssr.v3i2.948  

                                                                  

 

Global Scientific Research   59 
 

Access and Sustainability of Water Point Sources in Sekyere Kumawu 
District  

 

Oscar Agyemang  Opoku1*, Lord Ebo Sampson2, Richard Owusu Aboagye3 
 
1Department of Geography and Regional Planning, University of Cape Coast, Ghana  
2Department of Geography and the Environment, University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa-Alabama, USA 
3Department of Geography and Rural Development, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, 
Ghana 
 
Corresponding Author:   Oscar Agyemang  Opoku. Email: oscar.opoku@stu.ucc.edu.gh 

Received: 14 May, 2024, Accepted: 25 June 2024, Published: 29 June, 2024 

 

Abstract  

The “3K Project” has increased the number of water point sources and the quantity of water available to Sekyere 

Kumawu District, however, community settlers still struggle to get potable water. The study, therefore, sought to 

examine the accessibility and sustainability of water point sources in the Sekyere Kumawu District. The descriptive 

survey was employed. Mixed approach; both quantitative and qualitative research designs were used in the study. 

Primary data were sourced using structured questionnaires, interview guide and field observations. Multiple stage 

sampling techniques was employed to select 390 households while 9 key stakeholders were purposively selected. 

The Statistical Product and Service Solutions was used to process and analyse the data. Both descriptive and 

inferential statistics such as frequencies, percentages, crosstabs, Pearson Chi-square and paired sample t-test were 

used in the data analysis to arrive at key findings. Also, interviews were manually transcribed, coded, grouped into 

themes and used appropriately to either confirm or reject the quantitative analyses whereas observations in the 

form of pictures from the field were also presented in plates to support the findings from questionnaires and 

interviews. It was found out that among the various water point sources in the district, pipe borne water was 

preferred for drinking due to its hygienic nature and quality. It is therefore, recommended that the District 

Assembly should liaise with water and sanitation NGOs and GWCL to finance water projects expansion within 

the communities, especially areas where there were spatially deficiency in the water point sources or under-

coverage and to newly developed areas in a bid to improve accessibility, especially to access safely managed 

drinking water services. 

 

Keywords: Water; Access; Sustainability; Water Point Sources; Sekyere Kumawu District 

 

Introduction  

 

Water is essential for maintaining human health and dignity, supporting ecological systems, and serving as a crucial 

input for production systems that sustain livelihoods (United Nations Development Programme, 2006). Globally, 

an estimated 663 million people still lack access to improved drinking water sources (WHO, 2015). By 2050, 

global water demand is expected to rise by 55%, primarily due to increasing urbanization in developing countries 

(OECD, 2012). Consequently, cities will need to either extend their reach or dig deeper to access water or rely on 

innovative solutions and advanced technologies to meet their water needs. Between 1990 and 2012, the number of 

urban residents without access to improved drinking water sources increased from 111 million to 149 million 

(WHO/UNICEF, 2014). In sub-Saharan Africa, where urbanization is most rapid, the percentage of people with 

piped water on their premises dropped from 42% to 34% (WHO/UNICEF, 2014). The World Bank report states 

that more than one-sixth of the worlds’ population does not has access to safe drinking water. 



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Among those who do not have access to water, 80 percent leaves in rural areas, and this makes access to water 

difficult to be guaranteed globally. 

The developing world including countries in West Africa, continue to lag behind developed nations in their 

progress towards meeting the water-related Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) (WHO/UNICEF, 2016). 

Based on WHO/UNICEF report (2008), one of the most important measures to spur economic growth, reduce 

poverty as well as improve public health is universal access to and use of clean potable water.  

Prüss-Üstün et al. (2008) highlighted that nearly 10% of the global burden of disease was attributable to unsafe 

water, lack of sanitation, and poor hygiene, claiming 3.6 million lives annually. Recent data from the World Health 

Organization (WHO) indicates that unsafe water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) continue to pose significant 

health risks. In 2022, contaminated water sources caused approximately 505,000 diarrhoeal deaths annually, with 

microbial contamination being the primary concern. Despite progress towards Sustainable Development Goal 6, 

which aims for universal access to safely managed water and sanitation by 2030, around 2.2 billion people still 

lacked access to safely managed drinking water in 2022. This lack of access exacerbates health risks and hinders 

economic and social development (WHO, 2023). Addressing the global water crisis requires concerted efforts to 

improve water access and sustainability, particularly as the global population grows. Enhancing WASH 

infrastructure and management is essential to reduce preventable diseases and support overall community well-

being (WHO, 2023).  

The concept of Sustainable Development has gained increasing attention and relevance in the last decades. The 

term sustainable development is defined as ‘development that meets the needs of the present without compromising 

the ability of future generations to meet their own needs’ (WCED 1987, p. 43). In practice, sustainable development 

is a societal concept that is grounded in three basic principles; environmental integrity, economic prosperity, and 

social equity which is commonly referred to as the three pillars of sustainability (Elliott, 2005). Therefore, access 

to potable water should be sustainable based on these three principles. According to Annor (2011), if care is not 

taken, the next world war would occur as a result of water crisis. Though there is an increase in population, the 

world through the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 6 has committed itself to attaining universal water 

coverage by 2030 by improving upon the 75% universal coverage of water proposed in the Millennium 

Development Goal 7 which just ended in 2015. The Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 6 seeks to ensure 

availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all. It focuses on achieving universal and 

equitable access to safe and affordable drinking water. About 71 percent of the global population (5.2 billion 

people) used a safely managed drinking water service; that is, an improved drinking water source located on 

premises, available when needed and free from contamination while over 844 million people still lacked even a 

basic drinking water service (drinking water from an improved source, provided collection time is not more than 

30 minutes for a round trip) (Global Health Observatory (GHO), 2015). 

In Ghana, though there seem to be increasing water coverage nationwide, the situation on ground lives much to be 

desired since majority of the people living in both urban and rural areas have limited access to water. More than 

40 percent (10 million) of Ghana's 25 million people do not have access to safe water (Safeghana, 2018). Report 

by the Parliamentary Select Committee on Works and Housing in Ghana (2017) revealed that 24% of urban 

dwellers have no access to potable water. Similarly, a critical analysis of data collected in 2014 by the Sekyere 

Kumawu Assembly on water and sanitation facilities in the district vis- avis the population revealed that access to 

potable water is woefully inadequate (DPCU-SKDA, 2014). These people are therefore left with no other choice 

than to find their own means of getting water. However, due to poor management and sustainable practices, most 

of the water point sources are not reliable and potable.  

Historically, households in Sekyere Kumawu District have experienced water crises since the broke down of 

treatment plant installed at River Onwam in 1995 due to lack of maintenance (GWCL, 2013). The affected 

population have been relying on other water point sources such as streams, springs, rainwater, tankers, water 

supplied vendors, ponds, rivers, boreholes, wells as well as sachet water (Ghana Statistical Service and Population 

and Housing Census, 2010). Recently, Sekyere Kumawu District was provided with reservoirs of pipe borne water 

as part of the benefits of the Konongo, Kumawu and Kwahu Water Expansion Project (“3K project) of the Ghana 

Water Company Limited.  

Under this project, public tap/ standpipes were provided to serve as a service point (service centre) and access 

point sources to the pipe-borne water from the reservouir. These access point sources served as places where pipe 



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taps are mounted for households to fetch water to their various homes. However, the number of public standpipes 

provided under the “3K project” is not enough to meet the needs of the affected communities in the SKD. Also, 

some of these public tap/ standpipes are located at the foot of some highlands (hills) and others are at a far distance 

from the places of residence of the households which makes it difficult to access this water. Additionally, the prices 

as which water is sold to the people also makes affordability a problem. The inability of the people, especially, 

those in the rural communities, to afford the cost make the water supply inaccessible though it is available. On the 

other hand, there are a lot of incidence of burst pipes almost every day, dalliance in connection of pipe to various 

homes, as well as inconsistent in water flow of taps. 

Despite the fact that the Konongo, Kumawu and Kwahu water expansion (3K) project has made potable water 

available to the Sekyere Kumawu District, there are threats to its equity distribution, sustainability, accessibility, 

and affordability. Nevertheless, there is paucity of empirical evidence on difficulties that household face in 

accessing potable water and how these water point sources are managed and sustained among others. This study, 

therefore, sought to examine the access to and sustainability of potable water sources in the Sekyere Kumawu 

District.   

 

Literature Review 

 

Potable Water  

 

Grandjean (2004) define potable water as water that is considered safe for drinking and can be used for other 

domestic purposes. It is either treated, cleaned or filtered and meets the locally established drinking water standards 

(free of harmful bacteria and contaminants). Examples of potable water would be tap water from treated municipal 

water systems, or that has been Ultraviolet filtered, water distilled, or purified by reverse osmosis. 

 

Water Point Sources  

 

There are a lot of repositories of water which many households draw their potable water from for both domestic 

and industrial purposes. These sources are not limited to, but include; springs, wells, boreholes, pipe stands, water 

tankers/vendor supplies among others. Groundwater is less susceptible to pollution due to its location within the 

earth crust (water table/aquifer) and for that matter, it is often recommended for use as drinking water (Kortarsi, 

1994). Groundwater can be tapped to the earth surface through either by wells or boreholes, spring and infiltration 

galleries (Kpordze, 2010). Wells and springs are rampantly used by developing countries as a source of drinking 

water. Springs occur naturally whereas wells are dug, drilled or bored.  

A well is an issue of water from the earth: a pool fed by a spring (Marriam Webster, 2015). It is also known to be 

a pit or hole sunk into the earth to reach a supply of water. Tilton (n.d.) also defines a well as a hole or shaft drilled 

down through the earth to water-bearing stratum of sand, gravel, or a crack in the rock. There are different types 

of a well according to their mode of construction. For instance, hand dug wells are the most common method of 

abstracting groundwater in developing countries. Hand dug wells have relatively large diameters (often ranges 

from 1–2m) to allow sufficient digging space. On the other hand, depths may range from shallow wells (3-5m) to 

deep wells 10 to over 20 m to ensure that water table can still be reached in dry seasons (Kpordze, 2010). A 

traditional hand dug well is often drawn using rope and bucket and this makes it prone to contamination since they 

are often not covered and the rope or bucket could be contaminated before placing it into the well (Powell Black 

& Hickman, 1992).  

Another mode of construction could be in the form of drilling to deeper depths using drilling rig or augurs. 

Boreholes are deeper (depth 20-100m and over) than tube wells. The boreholes are also drawn using hand pumps 

or mechanical pumps. Research has shown that though the initial costs of Boreholes are expensive, they are less 

susceptible to contaminations since their diameters are relatively smaller and they are also sealed with the hand 

pumps or mechanical pumps (WaterAid, n.d.). Water tankers are the vehicular reservoir used to fetch water from 

rivers or pipe stands and then distribute to the requested households at a fee or cost. Moreover, water supplied 

vendors include individuals who used to fetch water from other water point sources such as springs, rivers, streams, 

wells and or pipe stands and sell it to households for money. These people normally put the water in plastic 



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containers, “gallon” and small poly tanks as well as buckets. Furthermore, stand pipes are places where pipe taps 

are mounted for households to fetch water to their various homes. This type of water is treated by the Ghana Water 

Company Limited at a fee or cost.  

 

Functionality of Water Point Sources  

 

The functioning and non-functioning of water point sources are termed as functionality. Studies conducted on the 

functionality of water point sources by CARE (2012) and Habtamu (2012) place functionality under the type of 

technology (a type of hand pumps) employed, the availability of spare parts in the local market and availability of 

skilled personnel for operation, repairs and maintenance. Factors that contribute to long-term functionality of 

technologies included; governance, diversity and inclusivity of committee members such as, female involvement 

and training for maintenance and repairs. CARE (2012) further indicates that the involvement of women in 

committees contributed tremendously to water point functionality in Northern Mozambique. On the other hand, 

insufficient training for operation and maintenance and lack of spare parts in the local market were the factors 

dwindling the functionality as well as sustainability of water point sources. Most of the spare parts are imported 

and are not locally manufactured and hence the reason for is unavailability in the market. Habtamu (2012) again, 

indicates that the community participation in the choice of technology was another contributing factor enhancing 

long-term functionality since the people felt a sense of ownership and protection of the propriety. Also, the 

community involvement in the construction of the technology coupled with the training received, equip them with 

some skill on repair and maintenance (Hayson, 2006).  

 

Mapping of Water Points  

 

According to Welle (2007), mapping is the act of bringing what is hidden in the dark to light. Mapping can be in 

any form based on what information is required. In order to envisage information of a particular jurisdiction, a 

map is created at the end of any mapping exercise. Mapping according to Welle (2007), serves as an advocacy tool 

since it provides citizens as well as a local government with information and arguments to demand improved 

services. Mapping of water point sources helps in revealing information such as coverage (number of water point 

sources in the system), access levels (number of population which has access to water), functionality (number of 

water point functioning and non-functioning), water quality and equity (fair distribution of water points) of service 

delivery (WaterAid, n.d.). Information gathered from mapping is very useful for improving planning and 

monitoring of water service delivery nationally and locally by local government and water service providers 

(Welle, 2007). Welle (2007) further argues that mapping in itself is a tool that is used by water service providers 

and Agencies such as WaterAid (water and sanitation body) to track its projects.  

In as much as mapping can be advantageous, it can be misleading since changes cannot be provided on maps 

generated as and when they occur (Welle, 2007). For instance, after mapping a particular place, any activities like 

demolition that goes on cannot be factored again into the map. Again, mapping is done based on the information 

the mapper is looking for and so several maps are generated for various purposes. Welle (2007) argue that data 

gathered had to be entered into a compatible mapping tool that may require training, skill and experience. 

 

Access to Water Point Sources  

 

Access to safe drinking water is a fundamental precondition for the enjoyment of several human rights, including 

the right to education, housing, health, life, work and protection against cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or 

punishment. It is to eradicate discrimination among sex, income status and social class (UN-Water, 2009). Access 

to water can be defined based on parameters such as population, distance, time and quantity (Moriarty, Batchelor, 

Fonseca, Klutse, Naafs, Nyarko, Pezon, Potter, Reddy & Snehalatha, 2011). With regard to population access to 

safe drinking water is defined or estimated by the percentage of the population using improved drinking water 

sources such as protected hand dug wells, boreholes, protected springs, public standpipes and rainwater harvesting 

(Joint Monitoring Program, 2011).  A household is considered to have access to an improved water source if it 

gets drinking water primarily from a pipe-borne water supply system, a public standpipe, borehole and dug well 



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with pump, a protected spring, a well-developed rainwater harvesting system, a reliable water vendor or water tank 

truck. Sources such as direct from surface waters, thus, rivers, lakes, ponds, etc. and unprotected wells and springs 

are regarded as unimproved water sources (United Nations International Children Education Fund (UNICEF), 

2008; World Health Organization (WHO), 2008). 

According to WHO (2011) and Community Water and Sanitation Agency (CWSA) (2007), a water point source 

such as borehole must serve 200 to 300 persons. Studies conducted in Ghana shows that most often than not a 

water point source (borehole) serves less than 300 people at a time (Moriarty et al., 2011). Access to a water point 

source in terms distance must be between 200m to 500m (Moriarty et al., 2011). According to Joint Monitoring 

Programme of WHO (2000), reasonable access to a water point source in terms of quantity must be available to a 

person at least 20 litres (five gallons) per day from a source within one kilometre of the user’s dwelling. However, 

in Ghana, CWSA defines access to safe drinking water in rural areas to include supplies from boreholes delivering 

a minimum of 20 litres per person/day, serving at least 300 persons each within 500 meters of households being 

served (CWSA, 2007). With regards to time, it is recommended by UN to be 30mins per a normal trip (from house 

to water and back to the house). 

As the amount of water accessed every day is largely determined by the distance to the water source and the 

collection time, a reasonable distance is one that allows everyone to collect sufficient water to cover personal 

domestic uses. According to WHO, in order to have a basic access to 20 liters per day, the water source has to be 

within 1,000 metres of the home and collection time should not exceed 30 minutes. When water is piped into the 

home, access is optimal and at least 100 litres per person per day is likely to be ensured. In this respect, United 

Nations Development Programme (UNDP) confirms in its human development report 2006 that having a regular 

supply of clean water piped to the household is the optimal type of provision for human development. Access to a 

regular supply of water within the home also eliminates the need for women and children to spend time and 

physically exert themselves to collect water from distant sources. Howard and Bartram (2003) defined access to 

potable water using four levels based on four board service levels which are distinguished on three categories 

namely; distance the consumer travels or the time spent collecting water, the quantity of water collected and the 

health concerns of water consumers. To them, basic access to water offers minimum health protection, and users 

of this service level will have access to less than 20 litres of water per day which includes 7.5 litres required for 

consumption. On the other hand, optimal access to water offers a minimum of 100 litres per day which is normally 

seen in houses with multiple pipe stands. Here, the level of health concern is very low and quality is readily assured.  

Access to water in urban areas in Ghana has increased over the years since people in urban areas depend mainly 

on piped-borne water supplied by GWCL. The Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) (2014) indicates that about 95 

percent of urban households have access to potable water (pipe, borehole and bottled water).  Though access to 

water has increased, people usually have to travel outside their homes to collect water. This may be due to the 

landscape of the area, planning or settlement pattern and one’s income status.  

 

Sustainability of Water Point Sources  

 

The term ‘sustainability’ is derived from the Latin sustenere meaning to maintain and its use in relation to the 

resources of the planet has a long pedigree dating from the late 18th Century. The contemporary term sustainable 

development was popularised in 1987 in the Brundtland Report which defined sustainable development as 

“…development that meets the needs of the present generation without compromising the ability of future 

generations to meet their own needs” (World Commission on Environment and Development (WCED), 1987:43). 

Subsequent work on sustainability stems from action under the 1992 United Nations (UN) Conference on 

Environment and Development, specifically Agenda 21. ‘Sustainability and sustainable development’ have been 

defined in several ways by different institutions and researchers (Awoke, 2012). DFID (2000) suggests that 

sustainability has been achieved when prevailing structures and processes have the capacity to continue their 

functions over the long term. Bjornlund (2004) defines sustainability as the satisfactory functioning and effective 

use of services, and equity as when everyone (men and women, rich and poor) … have equal access to benefits 

from projects. For the purpose of this study, sustainability is defined as the continuous provision of acceptable 

services in an equitable manner to beneficiaries for a targeted lifetime without any form of discrimination.  



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Sustainability can be defined as the functionality of water point sources over a long period of time (Habtamu, 

2012). Since the world committed itself to provide water to halve the world population without access to safe 

drinking water by the year 2015, the focus has been provisioning rather than sustainability. Every year, large sums 

of money are used in the implementation of water supply projects but only a few are seen functioning at the end 

of the year or two (Gebrehivot, 2006). Thus, these huge sums of money invested often go to waste. It is estimated 

that 35% of all rural water supplies in sub-Saharan Africa are not functioning and despite the frequency with which 

it appears in development discourse, the reality of sustainability remains elusive (Habtamu, 2012).  

Moreover, research has also shown that rural water supplies (often water point sources) in sub-Saharan Africa, 

particularly those relying on hand pumps, often demonstrate low levels of sustainability. The key causes for this 

include inappropriate policy or legislation; insufficient institutional support; unsustainable financing mechanisms; 

ineffective management systems; and lack of technical backstopping. The problem will only be solved by adopting 

a holistic approach to planning and implementation rather than focusing on one issue (Habtamu, 2012). No wonder 

sustainability lately has become a prerequisite for inclusion in a project proposal document and in the objective of 

every water supply and sanitation projects (Parry-Jones, Reed & Skinner, 2001).  

 

Methodology  

 

Study Area 

 

The Sekyere Kumawu District is located between Latitudes 0° 20’ and 1° 20’ North and Longitudes 0° 45’ and 1° 

15’ West. It covers an estimated land area of 576.58 square kilometres, which forms 6.2 percent of the total land 

size of the Ashanti Region (SKDA, 2014). Figure 1 depicts that the District shares common boundaries with the 

Sekyere Central District to the west, Sekyere East and Asante Akim North districts to the South and the Sekyere 

Afram Plains District to the east. Kumawu, the capital of SKDA is about 54 kilometres north-east of Kumasi, the 

regional capital. The population size of the district is 65,402 with females recording 34,421 (53.4%) and males 

30,981 (46.6%) (GSS, 2010). The district is predominantly rural with a rural population of 34,530 (52.8%) as 

compared with the urban population of 30,872 (47.2%). It has a growth rate of 3.5 percent (GSS, 2010). There are 

14,185 households in the district. The sources of drinking water for households are rivers/streams (30.2%), 

followed by bore-hole/pump/tube well (29.3%) (GSS, 2010). One out of every five households obtain drinking 

water through tanker supply/vendor provided, which account for 15.7 percent of all drinking water available to the 

district. Pipe-borne water (public tap/standpipe, outside and inside dwelling) is the source of drinking water for 

11.3 percent and 7.6 percent of rural and urban households, respectively (GSS, 2014).  

 
Figure 1: A study area of Sekyere Kumawu District  



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The study adopted a mixed approach (a combination of qualitative and quantitative methods). According to 

Johnson and Onwuegbuzie (2004) and Creswell (2012), merging the quantitative and qualitative techniques of data 

analysis concurrently helps to balance the strengths and weaknesses of the two, while it aids in achieving a greater 

degree of validity and reliability. The study used a multi-stage sampling to select 390 respondents within the 

Sekyere Kumawu District based on the household population (16,292) with the aid of Yamane (1967) formula for 

determining sample size. The residential areas involved in the survey were stratified into four- Kumawu, 

Bodomase, Besoro and Woraso and households. The stratification was based on the communities who were 

without potable water and now being served with pipestand as well as the income status of the area. A purposive 

sampling technique was employed in gathering data from 9 key stakeholders. These key stakeholders included; an 

assembly member, the chief, 3 water vendors, and the manager of Ghana Water Company.   

Primary data were sourced using structured questionnaires, interview guide, GPS and field observational checklist. 

The study adhered to highly ethical issues such as informed and free consent, anonymity, and confidentiality of 

the respondents. The Statistical Product and Service Solutions (SPSS version 25) was used to process and analyse 

the data. Also, interviews were manually transcribed, coded, grouped into themes and discussed whereas pictures 

taken during observations were presented to support the findings of the study.   

 

Results and Discussions 

 

Demographic Characteristics  

 

The study was predominantly female (59.5%) with about 44 percent of respondents aged 58 and above, primarily 

subsistence farmers, with 24.9% of the respondents being well-informed about water accessibility and 

management. Most respondents were Christians (85.4%), followed by Muslims (11.5%), mirroring the district's 

religious demographics. Educationally, a notable number of respondents lacked formal education, necessitating 

interviews for data collection. Marital status showed a majority (77.2%) were married, aligning with the 

demographic trends of the district. Household sizes varied, with 46.2% having between 1 to 5 members, slightly 

higher than the district average. The majority of respondents had lived in their communities for over 20 years, 

indicating deep familiarity with local water issues. Occupation-wise, 40.5% were farmers, and a significant portion 

were traders. Income levels were generally low, with 35.4% earning below GH₵ 100 monthly, potentially 

impacting their economic access to potable water. 

 

Water point sources in the district 

 

Water point sources found in the district included pipe borne water, standpipe, sachet/bottled water, river/stream, 

rainwater, water vendor and borehole while the most preferred one was the pipe-borne water due to its potability. 

Among the communities, it was found out that majority of the respondents in Bodomase (90.2%) significantly 

preferred pipe borne water than respondents from Kumawu, Besoro and Woraso. Figure 2 depicts the various water 

point sources in the district.      

 

Mapping of water points sources in the Sekyere Kumawu District 

 

Cost Distance Analysis of the Geographic Information System was employed to map the spatial distribution of 

water point sources in the district. It was found that majority of the standpipes were concentrated in the Kumawu 

community, followed by Bodomase. Just a few were found in the Besoro and Woraso communities (refer to Fig 

2). This distribution pattern might have been influenced by the population distribution within these. It was also 

observed that majority of the stand pipes were found along main roads. This was to increase accessibility of water 

point sources in terms of transporting them to various homes and nearby communities. There were few water point 

sources (pipe stands) that were disconnected due to frequent pipe burst and or failure to pay water bills. Moreover, 

a larger number of water point sources (pipe stands) were inconsistent with the flow of water while the streams 

and springs were perennial in nature.  



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Figure 2: A map of Sekyere Kumawu District showing the study areas and the various water point sources 

Source: Survey and Mapping Division of Ghana (2024) 

 

Level of access of the water point sources in the district 

 

According to Penchansky and Thomas (1981), access refers to a degree of fit between client and system. It involves 

the ability (thus monetary cost) and capability (thus distance, time, convenience and energy) of an individual to 

reach facilities that enhances one’s wellbeing. Therefore, this study measured access based on these parameters; 

cost, quality, time and distance. 

 

The cost of water  

 

The cost of a ‘kuffour gallon/jerry can’ of water varied with regards to quantity or size (Figure 3) of the 

‘gallon/jerry can’ and the income status of the area within the community.  According to the manager of Ghana 

Water Company Limited in Kumawu,  

“The smaller size (10 Litres) of a gallon is Gh0.10, the medium size (20 Litres) is Gh 0.20 and the bigger and 

longer one is GH 0.30 (25 Litres)” (Manager of GWCL, Kumawu).  

An interview with a stakeholder in Besoro confirmed that:  

“One is being sold for GHp30.” However, the price of jerry can differ with respect to communities and the type of 

water vendor” (assembly man, Besoro).  

Most of the water vendors in the medium and high-income areas have increased these charges to Gh 0.20, Gh 0.30 

and Gh 0.40 respectively. This affects respondents with lower income status who live such high-income areas. 

Financially, they cannot afford this on a continuous basis because it have a huge toll on their income.  

 



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Figure 3: Type of containers used for water collection and their prices 

Pipe stands owned and managed by the Ghana Water Company Limited, charged by the standard price given (Gh 

¢0.30p per “large jerry can” and Gh¢0.20p for the medium and Gh¢0.10p for the “smaller jerry can”). This price, 

however, increases by Gh¢ 0.10 at the private commercial pipe stands in Kumawu, Bodomase and Besoro for 

profit for private operators.   

 

Table 1:  Household Monthly Water Expenditure 

Amount  Frequency Percentage 

Gh¢1 – 50 135 57.4 

Gh¢51 – 100 61 25.9 

Gh¢101 – 150 4 1.7 

Gh¢151 – 200 16 6.8 

Gh¢201 and above 19 8.1 

Total  235 100 

Table 1 shows that majority of sampled population spent about Ghc 50.00 (Insert dollar equivalent) of their income 

on water for their homes. Quite a number of them (representing 8.1%) spent more than Ghc 200 and above on 

water monthly. Most of the respondents relied on imported water and sachet water for drinking than using the 

normal services (pipe stand).  

According to the access model by Penchanksy and Thomas (1981), a facility or water point source is accessible if 

it is affordable. However, majority of the respondents spent a larger proportion of their average monthly income 

on water which affects their livelihood activities.  

 

Table 2: Respondents’ rate of affordability of water point source 

Rate  Frequency Percentage 

Very affordable  28 7 

Affordable  80 21 

Not affordable  52 13 

Expensive  230 59 

Total  390 100 

 



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Table 2 indicates that majority of respondents (59%) rated the price of the pipe-borne water as expensive. Water 

as a basic human right should be available to all in the right quality and right quantity. However, in the Sekyere 

Kumawu District, this is not the case.   

According to Penchanksy and Thomas (1981) on access model, when a water point source is not affordable, then 

it is not accessible and this affects the livelihood activities of the respondents as indicated by the livelihood 

framework. Consequently, Obrist et. al (2007) posited that any constraints to access to facilities will have a major 

effect on the level of its accessibility. 

 

Table 3: How Respondents’ rated the of quality of water from the available point sources 

Rate of quality  Frequency Percentage 

Good  334 85.6 

Salty  46 11.8 

Coloured  7 1.8 

Bad odour  3 0.8 

Total  390 100 

According to Table 3, over 85% of respondents rated the quality of water from the point sources as good (Refer to 

Table 3). This means, that the water quality was acceptable to majority of the respondents. Very few of them 

(0.8%) had issues with the odour of the water. In the access model, acceptability of what was being accessed was 

crucial because this affects the rate at which something was accessed by a person. However, though quality of 

water was rated high, access was hindered due to the expensiveness of the cost of water.   

 

Table 4: Respondents’ rate of access to water facilities in the district 

Rate of access  Frequency Percentage 

Easy access  345 88.5 

Access with some difficulties  28 7.2 

Access with great difficulty  5 1.3 

No access 12 3.1 

Total  390 100 

With regard to access to potable water in the district, Table 4 indicates that majority of the respondents had access 

(less than 30 minutes) to water facilities, followed by 7.2% of respondents who had access with some difficulties 

(more than 30 minutes). About 3.1% of respondents could not access water from the point source facilities because 

of the distance in making a round trip, the topography of the area or road, and the price at which the water was 

sold at the point sources.  

 

Table 5: Time spent in accessing water per round trip  

Community   Time for a trip for fetching water      χ2 

p-value 10< 11-20m 21-30m 31-40m 41-50 51-60 Total  

Kumawu  16 69 13 8 5 0 111(100) χ2=94.8 

Bodomase  6 3 14 7 15 3 48(100) p<0.001 

Woraso 4 12 24 6 4 1 51(100)  

Besoro  4 4 9 1 10 1 29(100)  

Total  30 88 60 22 34 5 239(100)  

 

The differences in responses of the respondents from various communities were examined with Chi-square test 

goodness-of-fit and shown in Table 5. The result χ2 (15, N=390, 94.78, p < 0.001) showed that there was a 

statistically significant relationship between the communities and the time respondents spent in a trip to access 

preferred water point source after public standpipes were installed (Table 5).  

On average, most people spent about 11-20 minutes to access potable water per round trip. This was similar to that 

of Strand and Walker (2005) on 2600 households in Latin America that found that households spent on average 



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16 minutes a day to haul water. Despite the proximity of water point sources, it was still not accessible because it 

is expensive. According to Obriest et al (2007), when any of the principles of access is violated, then the facility 

is not accessible.  

 

Measures to ensure sustainability of potable water sources 

 

To ensure the continuous supply of potable water to community members, it was imperative to put in place 

measures that will ensure the sustainability of these water point sources. Sustainability enables the community 

settlers to have access to quality water in the needed quantities from these water point sources irrespective of their 

socioeconomic background.  

Community members were asked to suggest best measures that should be employed to sustain these water point 

sources and the result was presented in Table 6. They suggested that structures should be put in place by both 

stakeholders and institutions to ensure the sustainability of these water point sources. The traditional authorities 

were the main key stakeholder for the management of water sources in the district with the help of other key 

stakeholder institutions within the local government system. These stakeholders or institutions include the 

assembly members, unit committee members, youth leaders, Water and Sanitation Committee (WATSAN) and 

the Ghana Water Company Limited (GWCL).   

Observations revealed that there were frequent mains pipe burst in the various communities especially in Kumawu 

and this sometimes affect the other nearby communities. Also, there was no community participation with regards 

to plumbing works, repairing and maintenance. Moreover, the WATSAN committee do not meet regularly. This 

contradicts the views of Habtamu (2012) that, community participation, technology selection, site selection, 

demand responsiveness, construction quality, population and training, technical support, community and social 

satisfaction, institutional and policy, financial management and willingness to sustain the water project are the 

appropriate measures to sustain a water project (Nkongo, 2009).  

On the other hand, it was found that the GWCL has adequate and needed spare parts on stock, qualified technicians 

and other logistics for repairs and maintenance of pipe-borne system in the district. Well financial structure and 

controls have been inaugurated for proper accountability. Accessibility to pipe-borne water connection has been 

increased through promotional activities.  

 

Table 6: Respondents’ views on ways to sustain water point sources  

Measures  Frequency Percentage 

Seminars and training (education) 4 1 

Passing outlaws  10 2.6 

Attract water agencies (NGO) 3 0.8 

Observing and abiding rules  82 21 

Payment of bills 64 16.4 

Maintenance  135 34.6 

Cleanliness 92 23.6 

Total  390 100 

More than 34% of the respondents posited that maintenance should be the centre of sustainability. However, the 

assembly members and traditional authorities were reserved with regards to maintenance of the water point sources 

especially the public pipe stands since there was weak community participation on the project. One respondent in 

an interview maintained that; 

“They have their own plumbers. I do not know any trained person from this town. After logging complains, we 

would have to wait for them to come around. The logged problem cannot be attended to unless the Water Works 

do that. The plumbers in this town are not allowed to attend to issues relating to waterworks since they are not 

their workers. Even if the pipes burst, we wait for them to attend to them. The local plumbers are not allowed to 

connect conduits to various homes. I do not know why it is like that. Dealing with the waterworks comes with a 

higher cost” (Male, 35 years, married with 2 children Assemblyman, Besoro).  

Therefore, it was proposed that the Ghana Water Company trained the plumbers in the various communities and 

assigned specific roles or area of specialisation to the trained local technical men to effectively operate and 



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maintenance water systems in the various communities. This will promote community participation and 

involvement to the use and maintenance of the project.  

Quite a number of the respondents (23.6%) maintained that these water point sources needed to be kept clean to 

promote its sustainability. Both the pipe-borne water, and water point sources such as streams and rivers should 

be cleaned from time to time. One of the assembly members (35 years old, married man with 2 kids) highlighted 

that; 

“I have not seen the dam personally. All they need to do is to protect the dam very well from getting silted. If the 

dam gets blocked with silt and litre, then the government would have done a “COS 90” work.  They have to remove 

all the blockages from the dam almost every two years. There is a possibility of filling the dam. Hence, they need 

to make sure these silt and plastic wastes do not choke the dam. Also, looking at how things are going with the 

pipelines bursting each now and then, a time is coming when all the pipes will not flow at Kumawu to the extent 

that all the pipelines will be damaged. Hence, changing them may take years to complete”. (Assemblyman, 

Besoro). 

Rules regarding proper management of water sources cannot be overlooked. Though the majority of the households 

were silent on the enactment of laws to govern the use and management of water point sources, the focus was on 

its adherence by community members. The management of Ghana Water Company Limited in Kumawu buttressed 

this by saying that:   

“People are aware of the rules and regulations governing the protection of our pipeline network. Some people 

however, build on our pipelines network which is very bad. They always get away with these actions because 

nobody does anything to stop them. This exerts a lot of pressure on our pipelines causing frequent pipe burst.” 

(Manager of GWCL, Kumawu).  

 

Pipe-borne connection to homes   

 

Most of the respondents (61.3%) do not have pipe borne water connection to their various homes due to high cost 

of connection, cumbersome procedure and difficulties in connecting to various homes because of the topography 

or landscape of the area. Among the communities, most of the respondents from Bodomase were connected to 

pipe-borne water as compared with respondents in Woraso.    

Further analysis to understand where household’s income had any relationship with pipeborne connection to 

homes, a Chi-square test of goodness-of-fit was run. The results in Table 7 (χ2 (4, N=390, 20.73, p < 0.001) 

depicted that there was no statistically significant difference between income status and pipe-borne connection to 

the home. It was found that most of the respondents who earned Gh¢ 400.00 and more had pipe-borne connection 

to their homes as compared to respondents who earned below Gh¢100.00. The cost of connection was a bit high, 

especially among those who were far away from the main lane and hilly areas, making people who earned less 

than Gh400 less likely to afford it.  

 

Table 7: Distance and to access potable water before and after pipe borne water connection  

Distance per trip N  Mean  Std Dev. Statistic 

Before pipe stand 239 2.45 1.25 t=12.61 

p<0.001 

df=238 

After pipe stand  239 1.31 0.64 

The T-test was employed in analysing the effect of the intervention project (3K project) on access to potable water 

The result (t(238)= 12.063, p<0.001) showed that there was statistical significant difference between the distance 

that respondents covered to access potable water before and after the public stand pipes were installed (refer to 

Table 7). This implied that the people of Sekyere Kumawu District now covered shorter distances to access potable 

compared to times prior to the installation of public stand pipes. Among the communities, respondents in Kumawu 

now journeyed a very short distance to access water as compared with other communities. This difference was 

statistically significant as it was proven by a Chi-square test of goodness-of-fit and the result χ2 (9, N=390, 19.31, 

p = 0.023). Regardless of the enhanced proximity to pipestands, some people in Woraso still prefer other water 

point sources such as “Asuo Kumawu” (spring) due to its taste among others. Studies have shown that reducing 

the distance to water sources significantly improves water access and usage. For instance, a study by Kremer et al. 



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Global Scientific Research   71 
 

(2011) found that providing closer access to water sources in Kenya increased water consumption and improved 

health outcomes. Similarly, research by Cairncross and Valdmanis (2006) noted that shorter distances to water 

sources directly correlate with better water quality and reduced waterborne diseases. 

 

Conclusions and Recommendations  

 

The people of Sekyere Kumawu District only have access to basic drinking water services due to expensive nature 

of pipe-borne water system. Among the water point sources such as pipe borne water, sachet/bottled water, 

river/stream, rainwater and water from mobile water venders, the people of Sekyere Kumawu preferred pipe-borne 

water for drinking.  

Regardless of the hitches and challenges faced by Ghana Water Company Limited, they have been able to improve 

upon water accessibility in the district. Needed spare parts have been secured, qualified technicians, mobile 

collection service has been constituted, some springs have been fenced, WATSAN committee has be formed, 

promotion for pipe borne connection to peoples’ various homes have been introduced. However, the Ghana Water 

Company Limited is understaffed. This caused delays in connection of pipe-borne water, repairs and maintenance 

of faulty or burst pipes.  

The District Assembly should liaise with water and sanitation NGOs and GWCL to finance water projects 

expansion within the communities, especially areas where there were spatially deficiency in the water point sources 

or under-coverage and to newly developed areas in a bid to improve accessibility, especially to access safely 

managed drinking water services.  

The PURC should collaborate with GWCL to come out with some kind of subsidy package that will also last long 

to ease households’ burden of connecting to the main lines and also to make standpipes affordable.  

The Ghana Water Company Limited should ensure a little community participation by training the local 

technicians such as plumbers and engineers and specify the kind and area of work they can address in the various 

communities with regards to the pipe-borne water connection and related issues. This will prevent frequent 

breakdown of pipe borne water system, reduce the workload of their staffs and technicians and loss of water due 

to frequent burst among others.  

Finally, some structures were put up on the pipe lanes and little attention was given to streams, rivers and springs. 

The works department of the assembly may partner with the WATSAN, GWCL and Ghana Police to ensure that 

people adhere to the rules and regulations governing the use and management of pipe borne water.  

The Sekyere Kumawu District Assembly should liase with the traditional council and WATSAN to educate and 

sensitize the households to protect water supply sources such as rivers, strings and streams by managing the 

available water sheds and reduce the cutting of trees along banks.  

 

Declaration: N/A 

 

Acknowledgment: N/A 

 

Funding: N/A 

 

Conflict of interest: No conflict of interest  

 

Ethics approval/declaration: N/A 

 

Consent to participate: Respondents consent to participate both orally and written form  

 

Consent for publication: Yes  

 

Data availability: Yes upon request  

 

Authors contribution: Oscar Agyemang  Opoku looked at the data analysis and manuscript drafting  



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Lord Ebo Sampson considered the introduction and literature review  

Richard Owusu Aboagye catered for the methodology  

 

 

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