Spatial heterogeneity in drinking water sources in the Greater Accra Metropolitan Area (GAMA), Ghana
File(s)
Published version
Author(s)
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
Universal access to safe drinking water is essential to population health and wellbeing, as recognized in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG). To develop targeted policies which improve urban access to improved water and ensure equity, there is the need to understand the spatial heterogeneity in drinking water sources and the factors underlying these patterns. Using the Shannon Entropy Index and the Index of Concentration at the Extremes at the enumeration area level, we analyzed census data to examine the spatial heterogeneity in drinking water sources and neighborhood income in the Greater Accra Metropolitan Area (GAMA), the largest urban agglomeration in Ghana. GAMA has been a laboratory for studying urban growth, economic security, and other concomitant socio-environmental and demographic issues in the recent past. The current study adds to this literature by telling a different story about the spatial heterogeneity of GAMA’s water landscape at the enumeration area level. The findings of the study reveal considerable geographical heterogeneity and inequality in drinking water sources not evidenced in previous studies. We conclude that heterogeneity is neither good nor bad in GAMA judging by the dominance of both piped water sources and sachet water (machine-sealed 500ml plastic bag of drinking water). The lessons from this study can be used to inform the planning of appropriate localized solutions targeted at providing piped water sources in neighborhoods lacking these services and to monitor progress in achieving universal access to improved drinking water as recognized in the SDG 6 and improving population health and wellbeing
Date Issued
2022-08-12
Date Acceptance
2022-07-17
Citation
Population and Environment, 2022, 44, pp.46-76
ISSN
0199-0039
Publisher
Springer
Start Page
46
End Page
76
Journal / Book Title
Population and Environment
Volume
44
Copyright Statement
© The Author(s) 2022. This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.
License URL
Sponsor
Wellcome Trust
Grant Number
209376/Z/17/Z
Subjects
Social Sciences
Science & Technology
Life Sciences & Biomedicine
Demography
Environmental Studies
Environmental Sciences & Ecology
Drinking water sources
Spatial heterogeneity
Inequality
Census data
GAMA
Ghana
URBAN
ACCESS
LILONGWE
AFRICA
HEALTH
ENVIRONMENT
INEQUITIES
INEQUALITY
POVERTY
SLUMS
Census data
Drinking water sources
GAMA
Ghana
Inequality
Spatial heterogeneity
05 Environmental Sciences
14 Economics
16 Studies in Human Society
Demography
Publication Status
Published