Status of Rainwater Harvesting (RWH) in Ghana

Abstract

Potable water accessibility is an important criteria for improving health assessment of mankind. The demand for potable water in the world is growing fast compared to the growth in population.The increasing water demand globally has resulted into looking for alternative mechanism for water supply. Globally, harvesting of rainwater is classified as one of the best interventions to address water scarcity situations.In most of the developing countries including Ghana,rural communitie slack the accessibility to clean drinking water.This paper presents rainwater harvesting as analternative water supply system that needs to be adopted by the people of Ghanaand is based on literatures associated with rainwater harvesting obtained from various studies both locally and internationally.Thispaper has identifiedthe affordability and user ownership as the main factors influencing rainwater harvesting practices by rural communities in Ghana. Poor roofing materials,inappropriate harvesting facilities, housing occupancy,inaccurate land boundaries, qualityof water and uneven rainfall pattern have been outlined as the constraining bottlenecks to this practice. Measures to curtail have been discussed as well. Moreover, a simple affordable rapid sand filter needs to be evolved and incorporated into the system in Ghana.