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5
Operation of Sewer Systems in Ghana. |
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During a recent short visit to Ghana, a review was made of the operation of sewerage systems and recommendations were produced for how a new simplified system should be operated by a potential private contractor to ensure a high standard of service for its users. This chapter examines the current operation of sewer systems in Ghana, and the resultant standards of service they deliver to the users. It discusses why this fails to deliver an acceptable standard of service and then proposes a different operational strategy, based on a programme of planned maintenance supplemented inevitably by reactive maintenance. |
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Ghana is situated in sub-Saharan Africa, surrounded by Côte d'Ivoire, Burkina Faso and Benin. It gained independence from the UK in 1957, and continues exporting cocoa, timber and precious minerals. It has approximately 15 million inhabitants living in an area of approximately 240 000 km2 with a 1988 GNP figure of US$400 per capita, and a tropical monsoon climate. The natural vegetation is thus tropical with dense rain forest tailing off into savannah and grassland in the north. |
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Living conditions in the vast majority of urban areas are very crowded. About 90 per cent of households live in apartment buildings with other households, and about 90 per cent of these households live in a single room. The average size of a household is about 4.6 persons, and there are approximately 50 households in each apartment building. There is often no room for people to cook, wash or bathe within the apartment room, so these activities are carried out in the courtyard of the apartment building, or along the public highway. |
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