Capital maintenance study, the case of water supply systems in selected small towns

This Capital Maintenance Expenditure (CapManEx) study of seven Small Towns’ Water Systems provides understanding of the recurrent cost elements needed for sustainable services delivery. Field visits were carried out to the water systems and copies of available records on O&M were obtained. A data classification guide was used to classify the data and adjusted to the year 2011 using Gross Domestic Product deflators. The classified data was annualised to find the average total cumulative cost

Evaluation of user experiences for the Clean Team Ghana container-based sanitation service in Kumasi, Ghana

Abstract: There are few affordable and acceptable sanitation solutions for dense, low-income urban settlements. Though container-based toilets are a safely managed sanitation solution, little is known about user experiences to inform how such a solution should be viewed by governments. We conducted a before and after enrolment study of objective and subjective measures of sanitation quality due to the Clean Team Ghana (CTG) container-based toilet service in Kumasi, Ghana from June to December 2019. We collected data immediately prior to installation and 10 weeks afterwards for 292 customers. Most of them initially used public toilets with good structural quality, but sometimes these toilets had poor hygiene, lacked handwashing facilities, and required a 14.3-min mean time to use. We found that CTG delivered a high-quality service that positively impacted the quality of life of customers, saved them money, reduced gender gaps in the quality of life, and addressed the needs of those with physical disabilities. Problems with the CTG service, such as leaking, filling, smelling, or not being replaced as scheduled, were reported by fewer than 10% of customers. This evaluation supports the growing body of evidence that container-based sanitation provides a service valued by users in dense urban settlements

Indigenous plants for informal greywater treatment and reuse by some households in Ghana

Poor greywater management is one of Ghana's sanitation nightmares due to longstanding neglect. This study looks at local practices of informal phytoremediation, and identifies commonly used plants and benefits. Our study collected data from 451 surveyed houses in nine communities within three regions, using structured questionnaires and extensive field observations. Greywater (kitchen, bathroom and laundry) is mainly disposed of into the open (46–66%), with few (4–24%) using septic tanks and soakaway systems. The majority of respondents (84%) perceived plants as agents of treatment and most could list 1–2 beneficial functions of the plants. A total of 1,259 plant groups were identified which belonged to 36 different plant species. The top five indigenous plants used are sugarcane, banana/plantain, taro, sweet/wild basil, and dandelion. The major plant benefits identified were food (84% of respondents) and medicine (62% of respondents). Statistically, no association was identified between the numbers of plants grown and their perceived plant roles (χ2 = 6.022, p = 0.304), with the exception of an association between plant numbers and benefits (χ2 = 161.94, p < 0.001). There is demand for improving local practices of using plants in greywater treatment and reuse, since native plants also come with other benefits