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Sustainable Urban Water System Transitions Through Management Reforms in Ghana

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Abstract

Despite decades of water reforms, Ghana’s struggle to achieve sustainable urban water system is deepened by complex interactions of multi-layered political, socio-economic and managerial characteristics, leaving a rationing system of water supply in major cities like Accra. Using a multi-level perspective framework, the paper examines the dynamics of urban water system transition through management reforms. The study showed how external pressure at the landscape level influenced policy direction within urban water regime through the implementation of neo-liberal economic policies, paving way for resistance and grassroots innovation at the niche level. The implementation of such policies in the reform process did little to help achieve the desired sustainable urban water system goals. The paper suggests a blend of public and private financing with support for grassroots to improve urban water system management. However, subsequent urban water policy reforms must be informed by knowledge of social, economic, and political realities rather than imported generic “best policies and practices” that often conflict with local realities.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Public Leadership, Stellenbosch University, Private Bag X1, Matieland, 7602, Stellenbosch, South Africa

    Ernest Nti Acheampong & Mark Swilling

  2. Quantum Global Research Lab (QGRL), Bahnhofstrasse 2, 6300, Zug, Switzerland

    Kevin Urama

Authors
  1. Ernest Nti Acheampong
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  2. Mark Swilling
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  3. Kevin Urama
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Correspondence to Ernest Nti Acheampong.

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Acheampong, E.N., Swilling, M. & Urama, K. Sustainable Urban Water System Transitions Through Management Reforms in Ghana. Water Resour Manage 30, 1835–1849 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11269-016-1256-3

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