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Impacts of Urban Land Use Change on Sources of Drinking Water in Kumasi, Ghana

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Impacts of Urban Land Use Change on Sources of Drinking Water in Kumasi, Ghana University of Montana ScholarWorks at University of Montana Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers Graduate School 2014 IMPACTS OF URBAN LAND USE CHANGE ON SOURCES OF DRINKING WATER IN KUMASI, GHANA Michael Kofi dufulE The University of Montana Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.umt.edu/etd Let us know how access to this document benefits ou.y Recommended Citation Eduful, Michael Kofi, "IMPACTS OF URBAN LAND USE CHANGE ON SOURCES OF DRINKING WATER IN KUMASI, GHANA" (2014). Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers. 4219. https://scholarworks.umt.edu/etd/4219 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at ScholarWorks at University of Montana. It has been accepted for inclusion in Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks at University of Montana. For more information, please contact [email protected]. IMPACTS OF URBAN LAND USE CHANGE ON SOURCES OF DRINKING WATER IN KUMASI, GHANA By MICHAEL KOFI EDUFUL Master of Science in Urban Governance for Development, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, United Kingdom, 2005 Bachelor of Arts in Geography and Sociology, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, Ghana, 2001 Thesis presented in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in Geography, Community and Environmental Planning The University of Montana Missoula, MT May 2014 Approved by: Sandy Ross, Dean of The Graduate School Graduate School Dr. David Shively, Chair Department of Geography Dr. Thomas Sullivan Department of Geography Dr. Michelle Bryan Mudd School of Law i ABSTRACT Eduful, Michael, M.S., Spring 2014 Geography Impacts of Urban Land Use Change on Sources of Drinking Water in Kumasi, Ghana Committee Chair: Dr. David Shively Land use has a major influence on water quality, and the issue is of great concern in developing world urban areas where there are competing land uses. Kumasi, Ghana like most cities in the developing world, struggles to control and prevent urban water supply pollution through appropriate water resource protection measures that minimize or eradicate adverse impacts of land uses. Presently all rivers in the city are highly polluted, including the one where raw-water is obtained for treatment and supply of potable water. This study investigates how sources of drinking water are impacted by land use in Kumasi, the implications associated with the impacts, community perceptions of urban land use impacts on sources of drinking water, and community adaptations to water supply problems. It relies on field data collected through semi-structured interviews, a transect walk conducted upstream from the source of public water supply, and a transect walk bisecting the river in each of two communities characterized by differing levels of economic affluence. The study also draws on other secondary data sources. Using these methods, the study finds that urban land use is increasing the nutrient content of the source of public water supply, threating water quality, reducing a water reservoir’s storage capacity, increasing the cost of water treatment, and contributing to water supply restrictions causing water scarcity at the household level, especially in the poor urban community. As a result residents use various coping mechanisms to manage with water scarcity. To ensure sustainable water supply, there is the need to address land use challenges and the threats they pose for sources of public water supply, and this calls for collaboration among all departments, institutions, agencies, and interest groups involved in land use and water resource protection issues. ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I am very much grateful to my committee members Dr. David Shively, Dr. Thomas Sullivan, and Dr. Michelle Bryan Mudd for their support; especially during the proposal stage, the views and recommendations expressed improved the research. A very special thank you goes to Dr. David Shively who guided me throughout the development of the research idea and made important recommendations throughout the proposal and thesis writings. Moreover, I also thank the entire faculty and staff of Department of Geography for their generous support when my father passed on to eternity. Their support made it possible for me to travel back to Ghana and also to conduct the fieldwork for thesis. I am also very much grateful to the staff of all the departments I contacted during the fieldwork. These are Waste Management Department, Public Health Department, Town and Country Planning, and Ghana Water Company Ltd. all in Kumasi. Their contributions made this study a success. I am more than grateful to my family for their support (physically and spiritually) and encouragement. I say may God richly bless us and continue to support us all. To my wife, Mrs. Hannah Eduful, I say thank you very much for being there for me and your motherly love and support for the children in my absence. And to everybody that contributed in one way or the other to making this research a reality, I say thank you and thank you again. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT ........................................................................................................................ ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENT ................................................................................................. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS ................................................................................................... iv CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION ..................................................................................1 Problem Statement ...................................................................................................1 Research Questions ..................................................................................................4 Objectives ................................................................................................................5 Significance of the Study and Contribution to Literature ........................................7 Thesis Organization .................................................................................................9 CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW ....................................................................11 Introduction ............................................................................................................11 Urbanization in Africa ...........................................................................................11 Land Use Change and Water Bodies .....................................................................14 Urban Water and Poor Communities .....................................................................15 Urban Water and the Urban Poor in Sub-Saharan Africa ......................................17 Urban Water Supply in Kumasi, Ghana ................................................................20 CHAPTER THREE: BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY AREA ....................................22 Introduction ............................................................................................................22 Location, Climate, and Physical Characteristics....................................................22 Demography ...........................................................................................................25 The Economy .........................................................................................................28 Governance ............................................................................................................30 CHAPTER FOUR: METHODOLOGY ............................................................................32 Introduction ............................................................................................................32 The Methods ..........................................................................................................32 Research Subjects ..................................................................................................33 Study Areas ............................................................................................................33 Semi-Structured Interviews ...................................................................................35 The interview Questions ........................................................................................36 Sampling Procedure at the Community Level .......................................................38 Selecting Key Informants for Interviews ...............................................................39 Transect Walk ........................................................................................................41 Data Analysis Methods ..........................................................................................44 Problems Encountered in the Field ........................................................................45 CHAPTER FIVE: RESULTS AND DISCUSSION ..........................................................47 Introduction ............................................................................................................47 Public Water Supply ..............................................................................................47 Land Uses and the Owabi River ............................................................................48 Kaase – Poor Community ......................................................................................58
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