Water law water rights and water supply (Africa) : Ghana : study country report

This paper examines how water is perceived and managed according to the two major sources of water law in Ghana. From the perspectives of statutory and customary law, the paper deals with various issues relating to the nature of water, its management, its conservation and its regulation. There is a close relationship between sanitation and water management. Consequently, the paper also deals with the management of sanitation, in particular with the impact that water law has on ensuring that clean water and sanitation is available to poor people in rural and urban areas of Ghana. The paper discusses the statutory legal framework for providing water and sanitation to urban and rural communities in Ghana and the institutions set up to provide water for domestic purposes. It also discusses the regulatory institutions established to regulate the water sector and the nature and status of the customary regime for providing water. An assessment follows of the various regimes according to how they deal with the problems enumerated above. The enabling conditions and the constraints that face the provision of clean water to poor people in Ghana are discussed and the paper concludes by making recommendations about how water and sanitation provision can be improved in Ghana.