The majority of households in the Upper East Region rely on boreholes/tube wells for drinking water, according to the 2021 Population and Housing Census (PHC).
The 2021 PHC identifies 16 sources of drinking water, categorized into two groups: improved sources of water and unimproved sources of water.
Improved sources of water include public taps, boreholes, protected springs, pipe-borne water inside dwellings, rainwater, protected wells, sachet water, bottled water, pipe-borne water outside dwellings but on compounds, and pipe-borne water outside dwellings but in neighbors’ houses/compounds.
Unimproved sources of water include rivers/streams, unprotected wells, unprotected springs, tanker-supplied water, dugouts/ponds/lakes/dams/canals, and others.
According to the data, 254,237 households rely on improved sources of water for drinking, while 9,281 households rely on unimproved sources.
Of the households that rely on improved sources of water for drinking, 177,790 households use boreholes/tube wells.
The Head of the White Volta Basin at the Water Resources Commission, Jesse Kazapoe, corroborating the data, said that over 80 percent of residents in northern Ghana rely on underground water for domestic use.
Speaking to A1 Radio’s Mark Smith, Mr. Kazapoe said that despite this huge reliance on underground water, the quantity of underground water is barely tapped. There are, however, serious concerns about the quality of underground water because of various human activities including open defecation and improper disposal of human waste.
He called for a conscious effort to protect the quality of underground water as it is the major source of water for residents in northern Ghana.
See full table here.
Source: A1Radioonline.Com|101.1MHZ|Mark Kwasi Ahumah Smith|Bolgatanga|
