Pure water has become a powerful selling point for communities in the Wassa East district of Ghana, proving that people will indeed pay for water if they can be sure it is safe.
Bongo district is increasing its reliance on small town water systems to provide safe water in areas where the population is more concentrated. Deep boreholes provide water to storage tanks and standpipes across the area – with the potential also to make household connections.
Asaloko is a small community in the Bongo district where lives have been transformed through the introduction of safe water and effective sanitation. Householders no longer carry water long distances, children are better able to learn and the whole environment has been cleaned up.
When Wassa East District Assembly audited 202 water points in 2015 as part of the SMARter WASH project they found that 50% were not functional. They developed a four-year Sustainable WASH Plan to ensure sustainable access to safe water for all communities in the district.
Providing water and sanitation services to people who live in rural areas or informal settlements or simply aren’t connected to pipes is a complex business. Needlessly so. Social distancing? Queuing for water in Sahel Region of Burkina Faso. Photo: IRC Burkina Faso
Water and sanitation comprise an increasingly important focus for global health and development philanthropy, but the approach has often been piecemeal, resulting in broken pipes and pumps, disillusioned donors, and suffering beneficiaries.
