Private water providers in rural Ghana

How well does a small privately-owned business provide safe water to a rural community in west Africa? What are the benefits as well as the challenges? These are the questions that led to Philip Deal’s research in the ecologically-diverse country of Ghana. 

Hand pumping of water from a drilled borehole is still a very common method of water acquisition in Ghana.

Governments and NGOs across the world have observed countless handpumps and piped systems falling into disrepair, despite billions of dollars of investment into the water, sanitation, and hygiene (WaSH) sector. In opposition to this challenge, Water4 (an NGO based in Oklahoma City) set out to develop a sustainable model of building, operating, and maintaining safe water enterprises through their Numa water delivery kiosks. These kiosks became the product of a private water service company, Access Development (AD), in Ghana, West Africa. 

The water delivery system pumps water to a tank using solar power, disinfects the water with UV and chlorine disinfection, and supplies water to a kiosk where it is sold to local villagers. The borehole is owned by the community, but the pump and treatment center are owned by AD. Customers ‘pay‐to‐fetch’ vendors for their water with cash - 0.20 GHS per 18 L - equivalent to less than a cent per gallon.

Numa piped system network.

This water delivery kiosk provides clean water to Ghanaian villagers for a small fee

The goals of the water delivery system are to:

• increase the reliability and functionality of the systems,

• reduce the time needed to respond to breakdowns, and 

• increase the revenue for these water systems so as to provide more long-term management.

Customers ‘pay‐to‐fetch’ vendors for their water with cash - 0.20 GHS per 18 L, equivalent to about 3 cents, less than a penny per gallon.

Private water service delivery is a result of a partnership between the University of Oklahoma, Water4, and Access Development. Pictured (left to right): Dr. David Sabatini, Mr. Wellington Amankwa, Dr. Philip Deal, Mr. Philip Aratuo

Ghana is a water-rich country and was found to have a sustainable supply of groundwater to meet domestic water supply. However, more mechanized drilling would be needed to make this water available to more people. 

Philip discovered that Access Development was giving equal or superior service to its customers, both poor and rich, compared to traditional water systems. Water had significantly better quality and was consistently available throughout the year. Yet, only about 35% to 40% of the population was using Numa water. With ongoing competition from free alternatives and seasonal challenges of affordability, customers would not always choose to use Access Development’s water service. Low residual chlorine for secondary disinfection was also found to be an area for improvement.

Water queue in Ghana observes social distancing during the pandemic.

As of the Fall of 2020, Access Development has grown to serve almost 90,000 people. The private company has plans to expand to more districts in Ghana in 2021, while other partners in Sierra Leone and Zambia are growing rapidly as well. Philip is now the Director of Community Engagement at Water4, where he is able to continue serving and supporting safe water enterprises in 15 different countries.

 A kiosk vendor is happy to serve you!