Social Aspects of Groundwater Use and Management in the Wa West District

Abstract

Despite the relevance of groundwater to the rural safe drinking water needs, inadequate description of its distinctive social aspects in the policy documents and empirical literature makes it difficult to assess its specific contribution towards the achievement of policy targets. This paper used a mixed research design to assess the social characterisation of groundwater in the Wa West District of the Upper West Region of Ghana. Findings indicated that boreholes and dug wells constituted the major forms of water infrastructure in the study communities. There is an implicit stakeholder framework for the governance and management of groundwater but hardly noticed, as they do not deliberately separate groundwater from surface water governance. Accessibility and affordability were close to meeting policy and standard expectations on average, but quantity of groundwater use fell below the acceptable level attributable to factors such as household size and water storage container size among others. Socio-cultural factors such as whether or not, the construction of graves and pit latrines met regulated standards and the associated impacts on groundwater security. This study recommended the education of communities and promotion of community participation as strategies of addressing any identified challenges of groundwater management.