Historical Perspective
The first public water supply system in Ghana, then Gold Coast, was established in Accra just before World War I. Extensions were made exclusively to other urban areas among them the colonial capital of Cape Coast, Winneba and Kumasi in the1920s.
During this period, the water supply systems were managed by the Hydraulic Division of Public Works Department. With time the responsibilities of the Hydraulic Division were widened to include the planning and development of water supply systems in other parts of the country.
In 1948, the Department of Rural Water Development was established to engage in the development and management of rural water supply through the drilling of bore holes and construction of wells for rural communities.
After Ghana’s independence in 1957, a Water Supply Division, with headquarters in Kumasi, was set up under the Ministry of Works and Housing with responsibilities for both urban and rural water supplies.
During the dry season of 1959, there was severe water shortage in the country. Following this crisis, an agreement was signed between the Government of Ghana and the World Health Organisation (WHO) for a study to be conducted into the water sector development of the country.
The study focused not only on technical engineering but also on the organisation of a national water and sewerage authority and methods of financing. Furthermore the study recommended the preparation of a Master Plan for water supply and sewerage services in Accra-Tema covering the twenty-year period 1960 to 1980.
In line with the recommendations of the WHO, the Ghana Water and Sewerage Corporation (GWSC), was established in 1965 under an Act of Parliament (Act 310) as a legal public utility entity. GWSC was to be responsible for:
DECLINE IN OPERATIONAL EFFICIENCY OF GWSC
In the late 1970s and early 1980s, the operational efficiency of GWSC declined to very low levels mainly as a result of the deterioration in pipe connections and pumping systems. A World Bank report in 1998 states that: “The water supply systems in Ghana deteriorated rapidly during the economic crises of the 1970´s and early 1980´s when Government’s ability to adequately operate and maintain essential services was severely constrained.”
In 1957, there were 35 pipe-borne water supply systems in the country. The number of pipe-borne systems rose to 69 in 1961 and then to 194 in 1979. At this time, there were 2,500 hand pumped borehole systems in the country and by 1984, additional 3000 boreholes had been drilled and fitted with hand pumps. However by the late 1980s and early 1990s, 33% of the water supply systems had deteriorated greatly or completely broken down due to inadequate funding to carry out maintenance and rehabilitation.
INTERVENTIONS BY GOG AND DONORS TO IMPROVE EFFICIENCY
To reverse the decline in water supply services, interventions in the area of sector reforms and project implementation were made in 1970, 1981 and 1988. These included interventions by the World Bank, IDA, donor countries and other external support agencies such as Austrian Government, Italian Government, Nordic Development Fund, the African Development Bank, Canadian International Development Agency, Department for International Development, KfW, GTZ, OECF, ECGD and CFD/ADF.
Though some gains were derived from these interventions, their general impact on service delivery was very disappointing. Due to the failure of these interventions to achieve the needed results, several efforts were made to improve efficiency within the water supply sector in Ghana especially during the era of the Economic Recovery Programme from 1983 to 1993.
During this period, loans and grants were sought from the World Bank and other donors for the initiation of rehabilitation and expansion programmes, to train personnel and to buy transport and maintenance equipment.
In addition, user fees for water supply were increased and subsidies on water tariffs were gradually removed for GWSC to achieve self-financing. Although subvention for both operational and developmental programmes was withdrawn in 1986, government funding for development programmes continued.
The government at that time approved a formula for annual tariff adjustments to enable the corporation generate sufficient funds to cover all annual recurrent costs as well as attain some capacity to undertake development projects.
THE WATER SECTOR RESTRUCTURING PROJECT
In 1987, a “Five-Year Rehabilitation and Development Plan” for the sector was prepared which resulted in the launching of the Water Sector Restructuring Project (WSRP). Multilateral and bilateral donors contributed $140 million to support the implementation of the WSRP. The reforms were aimed at reducing unaccounted for water, introducing rationalisation through reduction of the workforce, hiring of professionals and training of the remaining staff. A strong focus in the WSRP was also on improved management and increased efficiency through organisational change of the water sector.
Accordingly, a number of organisational reforms within the Ghanaian water sector were initiated in the early 1990s. As a first step, responsibilities for sanitation and small towns water supply were decentralized from Ghana Water and Sewerage Corporation to the District Assemblies in 1993.
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) was established in 1994 to ensure that water operations did not cause any harm to the environment. The Water Resources Commission (WRC) was founded in 1996 to be in charge of overall regulation and management of water resources utilization. In 1997, the Public Utilities Regulatory Commission (PURC) came into being with the purpose of setting tariffs and quality standards for the operation of public utilities.
With the passage of Act 564 of 1998, Community Water and Sanitation Agency (CWSA) was established to be responsible for management of rural water supply systems, hygiene education and provision of sanitary facilities. After the establishment of CWSA, 120 water supply systems serving small towns and rural communities were transferred to the District Assemblies and Communities to manage under the community-ownership and management scheme.
Finally, pursuant to the Statutory Corporations (Conversion to Companies) Act 461 of 1993 as amended by LI 1648, on 1st July 1999, GWSC was converted into a 100% state owned limited liability, Ghana Water Company Limited, with the responsibility for urban water supply only.