KAAF UNIVERSITY COLLEGE

FACULTY OF ENGINEERING

CONSTRUCTION TECHNOLOGY DEPARTMENT

COURSE: CIVIL ENGINEERING STRUCTURES

Group Course Work

SUPERVISOR:

MR. COLEMAN

DATE 22TH MAY 2015

All other materials and articles are dully referenced and acknowledged.

1
GROUP NAMES

 EMMANUEL OFORI 22300413

 ALBERT AMOANTA 22300513

 DOWUONA AGOE RAPHAEL 22300113

 OWOUSU ISAAC JNR 22300613

 LAWRENCE AYAYI DABLAKA 22301013

LEVEL; LEV 300 2ND SEM, SEC.1

DATE; 22 TH MAY 2015

Lecturers comment;

.……………………………………………………………………………………………………..

………………...……………………………………………………………………………………

………………………………………………………………………………………………………

Marks

………………………………………………………………………………………………………

THANK YOU.

2
TABLE OF CONTENT

1. INTRODUCTION……………………………………………………………………………

2. PROBLEMS FACING NEIBOURHOODS IN GHANA………………………………........

2.1 POOR COMMUNITY PLANNING……………………………………………………..

2.2 LOSS OF SOIL FERTILITY……………………………………………………………..

2.3 DISEASES………………………………………………………………………………..

2.4 CRIME…………………………………………………………………………………….

2.5 FLOODING………………………………………………………………………………

2.6 SLUM DEVELOPMENTS……………………………………………………………….

2.7 INADEQUATE UTILITY……………………………………………………………….

3. PREVENTION MEASURES TO CURB ABOVE PROBLEMS…………………

4. CAUSES AND EFFECTS OF WATER PROBLEMS FACING COMMUNITIES IN

GHANA……………………………………………………………………………………….

4.1 RECOMMENDATIONS …………………………………………………………………

5. CONCLUSION……………………………………………………………………………

3
1.0 INTRODUCTION

The Ghanaian Government has recently find it difficult in tackling poverty inequality,

community planning problems, flooding’s, crimes, disease related issues, inadequate utilities etc.

Through the Community Planning framework.

According to Npong (2014), Tamale; Water resource has come under great stress in Ghana due

to growing population and increased in demand for clean water.

However about 30% of treated and distributed water in Ghana never reaches homes or is loss in

transit either through illegal tapping or damaged pipes his reports investigate into the causes of

these problems, it effect on Ghana as a country and best recommendations control them.

4
2.0 PROBLEMS FACING NEIBOURHOODS IN GHANA

Ghana has become of age during this 21st centuries, a sub-Saharan African country who is

developing fast and very prominent in the region. Most foreigners’ invest in Banking and Oil

sector not for getting mining and automobile industries. However Ghana faces serious problems

which it government finds it difficult to control, and this includes floods in recent times, poor

soil fertility for agricultural activities, poverty, communicable diseases, poor community

planning, slums, inadequate utilities and high level of crimes vices etc.

2.1 POOR COMMUNITY PLANNING

Community planning is a practice that is engaged in by numerous disciplines: community work,

urban planning, macro social work, architecture, urban geography, community psychology,

environmental psychology, community psychiatry.

Most communities in Ghana is not under any proper planning, public places of conveniences’

locally known as public toilet is scares and most few ones are in poor conditions and at located at

wrong places.

Open deifications all over the city of Accra, Poor drainage channeling systems and disposals of

sewages.

Buying of lands and building of apartments, irrespective of locations have been the habit of most

Ghanaian citizens, this has affected the shape of the city and most neighborhood as well.

Most major roads leading to various regions across the country are single lanes posing great

threat to commuters. On the streets of Accra one can witness excavations of services tunnels and

5
trenches across roads, pavements and beneath them making the city look awkward as compared

to others.

CAUSES

 Poor community planning procedures.

 Inadequate government inputs and policies in empowering all consent bodies (urban

geography, surveyors, town and country planners etc.) whose work is to make sure the

community follows the national community planning systems

 Lack of public education on effects of such behaviors (e.g. building anywhere) might

cause problems such as floods.

 Laws enforcements energies failing to act when is due to perpetrators who offends the

law. e.g. A.M.A taking bribes and allowing illegal settlers to build at non demarcated

places or putting churches at wrong places.

 Bribery and corruption form law enforcers and government individuals who sets up

business at wrong locations.

2.2 LOSS OF SOIL FERTILITY

Land degradation is an issue of worldwide concern as it threatens global food security and

environmental quality. It is an acute problem in Africa where deforestation, overgrazing and

mismanagement of land resources have rendered over 320 million hectares of land unsuitable for

any meaningful agriculture (Sant ‘Anna, 1993, 2001; Sherr & Yadav, 1996).

6
The most common form of degradation is soil erosion by water and wind, which results from

vegetation removal with negative consequences for soil productivity (Oldeman, 1994).

Soil erosion is a major threat to continued and sustained agricultural production in Ghana.

The effect of erosion may be on-site and/or off-site. The on-site damage, which affects the

catchments where the erosion originates, includes soil structure degradation, increased

erodibility, surface crusting and compaction.

The loss of soil reduces depth, water and nutrient storage capacities of the soil. The reduction in

moisture reduces the soil’s potential to sustain plant growth, exposes the plants to frequent and

severe water stress which ultimately results in reduced crop yields.

For countries such as Ghana whose economies depend heavily on the agricultural sector, the loss

of agricultural productivity particularly through erosion, implies loss of revenue for the socio-

economic development of the country (Bonsu and Quansah, 1992).

CAUSES OF SOIL INFERTILITY

 Lack of education on detrimental effects of activities that destroy soil fertility

 Illegal activities such as mining causing great effect to our rich lands

 Usage of hazardous chemicals in planting and weeding

 Sand weaning

 Use of inappropriate farming methods and techniques

 Physical degradation e.g. bush fires

7
  Soil erosion

 Soil pollution

 Soil acidification, salinization and alkalization.

2.3 DISEASES

The burden of NCDs (Non-communicable diseases) can be derived from three sources –

mathematically-modelled estimates (using the Global Burden of Disease approach), local

surveys and administrative (routine) reports. WHO estimates that NCDs kill 78,000 persons in

Ghana annually, representing 354 deaths per 100,000 population. NCDs (Bosu, 2013)

Cholera outbreak in Ghana has hit a record 17,000 cases with 150 deaths. The last time Ghana

suffered such a staggering number of cholera cases was in 1982.

Signs of the cholera outbreak were on the wall after heavy rains consistently exposed most

markets in Accra filthy. Foul smell of rubbish assailed the air as it sat by road sides and remained

uncollected for days.

Health officials warned that the disease caused by poor sanitary conditions and lack of good

hygienic practices could break out.

In July this year, the prediction became real with cases first reported in Accra. Most of the cases

are from La Community, some from Osu,Teshie.( myjoyonline,2014)

CAUSES OF HEALHT RELATED ISSUES AND DISEASES

 Lack of proper health policies in tackling health related sickness and disease

8
 Lack of public educations (community seminars, workshops) from the health sector

informing citizens of health effects of some activities on the surroundings

 High illiteracy rate

 Poor community planning and slums

 Improper disposals of waste

 Poor drainage systems

 Lack of portable water

 Exposure to hazardous chemicals and fumes of chimneys, machines, incinerators etc.

 Poverty (dependency on non-balanced diet) etc.

2.4 CRIME

Everywhere in the world unemployment is one of the critical macroeconomic variables that

governments make it priority to control and make sure that it is as low as possible. This is

because unemployment, especially youth unemployment, is very expensive and when it is not

managed properly, its far-reaching implications on any national economy are very disastrous.

(BAAFI, 2010)

There has been recent increase in crime more especially armed robbery in the country. From the

notorious highways armed robbery cases involving the controversial mass rape, it seems that

another dimension where the armed robbers attack people in their homes in broad day light is

also assuming an alarming proportion.

9
CAUSES OF HIGH CRIME RATE IN GHANA

 Inability of the Government to create job opportunities for both graduates and the

unfortunate’s ones.

 Lack of employment in both private and public sectors in the system

 High illiteracy rates in recent times

 Lack of public education on effects of crimes on individuals and the state as whole.

 Poverty

 School drop outs

 Peer pressure

 Effects from bad western and foreign cultures.

2.5 FLOODING

Flooding is the most common environmental hazard worldwide, after disease and transport

accidents. This is because of the widespread geographical distribution of river floodplains and

low-lying coasts and their long-standing attractions for human settlement. Every year, floods

claim around 20,000 lives and adversely affect at least

20 million people worldwide, mostly through homelessness” (Smith, 2004).

Floods occur when a body of water rises to overflow land which is normally not submerged.

Flooding have been a problem to Ghana dating back when she attained independents from its

colonial masters till now.

10
The issue of flooding in Ghana has become more and more prominent over the years.

Many of the world’s cities were built around rivers. This situation is not different in

Ghana where historically and for economic purposes, towns and major cities were built along

river banks. During periods of flooding, human lives have been lost in Ghana with thousands of

people displaced. A good example is the floods in

Northern Ghana which destroyed properties worth millions of Ghana cedis with the attendant

problems of loss of life, displaced people and the emerging adverse health implications,

especially the threat of the outbreak of epidemics. Classrooms, which were supposed to be used

to educate children, were turned into makeshift shelters for the displaced people while the

National Disaster Management Organisation

(NADMO) was struggling to provide adequate food and other aid for the flood victims.

(Oppong, 2011)

In parts of Accra including Gbawe, Odawna, Avenor and Alajo, severe flooding is an almost

annual affair damaging property and taking priceless lives. So many reasons have been assigned

to the causes of these floods but it seems year in year out, nothing is done about it and history

repeats itself. These reasons include haphazard urban development and poor sanitation leading

to choked waterways and gutters.

CAUSES OF FLOODS IN GHANA

The causes of flooding can be divided into two broad lines. These are natural causes and human

causes of flooding (www.geocit ies.com, 2015). Natural causes of flooding simply refer to

those causes of flooding which do not have any direct human influence.

11
On the other hand, human causes of flooding include all flooding caused by the actions or

inactions of humans; there is therefore a direct human influence.

Natural

 Presence of too much water during an interval of time. ( Continuous heavy rains into,

streams, lakes, dams, etc. that exceeds the capacity of water bodies to contain)

 Flooding is prevalent in low lying areas or lowlands. Since rivers flow more slowly in such

areas, if the water volume increases abruptly or suddenly, floods occur.

 Coastal Flooding occurs by virtue of the fact that the sea level at a point in time is higher

than the adjoining coastal area. Thus, flooding occurs

Human Causes of Floods

 Deforestation

 Poor farming practices

 Poor Water Management, The use of water bodies especially rivers by man over the years

has led to various problems especially with the proper management of water. Dams have

been constructed on rivers in order to generate hydroelectric power for man’s use. These

lead to the formation of artificial lakes like the Lake Volta of Ghana.

 Population Pressure, Population pressure is perhaps the overriding human cause of floods

in the world.

With world population increasing so rapidly, the need for resources and other basic

necessities such as food, water and shelter is putting pressure on nature.

12
2.6 SLUM DEVELOPMENTS

A slum can be defined as a compact settlement with a collection of poorly built tenements,

mostly of temporary nature, crowded together usually with inadequate sanitary and drinking

water facilities in unhygienic conditions.

Urbanization, though may be challenging, presents many opportunities to cities including the

development of infrastructure and communication systems thereby providing employment

opportunities also leading to increased quality of life. However in Ghana, like most developing

countries, increase in urban population growth rates has not been matched by the necessary

infrastructure and services requirements.

Oduro (2009), stressed that, Ghana has made some level of progress in decentralization, the

country seems to be lacking in the area of participatory planning, which is one of the key

components of decentralization.

The Local Government Act 462 of 1993 and the National Development Planning (System Act)

480 of 1994 mandates MMDAs (Metropolitan, Municipal and District assemblies) to conduct

public hearing to consider the views of the people in their planning areas. However, inadequate

practice of these provisions by the MMDAs has led to non-effective planning approaches that

make little or no provision especially for the urban poor.

This phenomenon has resulted in the proliferation of slums of different levels in our urban areas.

It is therefore necessary for decentralization to be fully implemented to bring about an

improvement for people of all segments of society.

13
MAJOR CAUSES OF SLUM IN GHANA

 Lack of proper formulations of planning laws by governmental agencies like the MMDAs.

 Rural- urban migration

 Urbanization

 Insufficient financial resources and lack of coordination in government bureaucracy causes

poor housing planning.

 Poverty

 Poor community planning. (Drains, sewers etc.)

 Politics

 Social conflicts

 Natural disasters

2.7 INADEQUATE UTILITY

The Public Utilities Regulatory Commission (PURC) was set up as a multi- sectorial regulator

by Government of Ghana in October, 1997 under the Public Utilities Regulatory Act, 1997 (Act

538) as part of the utility sector reform process to regulate the provision of utility services in the

electricity and water sectors. (purc.com.gh, 2014)

Ghana’s energy sector has been bedeviled with the inability of power producers to meet demand.

The current state of the sector dates back to 1982, when drought resulted in a decrease in

capacity from the Akosombo Dam, the main power plant. The situation got better in 1986,

recurred in 1994, 1998, 2006 and has been worsening since 2010 to now.

14
This has spark Residents of several suburbs of the country angry at the Electricity Company of

Ghana over what they say are irritatingly too frequent and unscheduled power outages in their

neighborhoods.

Not forgetting the inability of harvesting, treating and channeling of more portable water to meet

high demands of citizens.

CAUSES OF INADEQUATE UTILITY

 Lack of planning

 Inability of government to invest in the harvest and produce portable water to meet

demand.

 Corruption

 Government of Ghana not doing much in introducing other means of energy production.

(e.g. wind, solar, )

PREVENTION MEASURES TO CURB ABOVE PROBLEMS

POOR COMMUNITY PLANNIGN

 The government of Ghana must do well in empowering all concern bodies whose role is to

make sure proper planning measures are in control and properly managed.

 The town and country planner with it major role in planning must stress to perform it role

to the fullest.

15
  The lands commission too must formulate it role and function to ensure proper land

management in the country

 Public education must be given on effect of putting up structures illegally at wrong location

and its effects on the environment

LOSS OF SOIL FERTILITY

 Practicing afforestation

 Government to punish perpetrators wo degrade our environment

 Proper planning on lands, as to where to mine, farm, graze, quarry etc.

 Adopting better farming skills like Adding manures for nitrogen.

All livestock manures can be valuable additions to soil, their nutrients are readily

available to soil organisms and plants. In fact, manures make a greater contribution to soil

aggregation than composts, which have already mostly decomposed.

 Harmful effects on farming soil must be stopped, that is sand winning, mining in our

water bodies, bush burning, etc.

 Public education on effects of activities that harm our soil.

DISEASES

 Government must ensure efficiency health policy in place in tackling communicable

diseases like cholera.

 Public education on how best we can keep our environment clean

 Public seminars and workshops on prevention and controlling of disease outbreak

16
  Education must be made possible to less privilege ones.

 Better community plan controls disease outbreak, as compared to poor ones, slums etc.

CRIME

 Examining Police, Community Relations

 Strengthening Trust between Police and the Public

 Assessing Measures Against Organized Crime

 Government creating more Jobs opportunities for graduates and youth unemployed.

 Government empowering youth in sole proprietorship and better ways to utilize their

skills

 Using Emergency Department Data for Crime Prevention

FLOODING

 Retaining walls

in some places, retaining walls levees, lakes, dams, reservoirs or retention ponds have

been constructed to hold extra water during times of flooding.

 Town planning

it is important that builders acquire permission before buildings are erected. This will

ensure that that waterways are not blocked. Also drainage systems must be covered and

kept free from objects that chock them. This way, water can quickly run through if it

17
 rains and minimize any chance of town flooding. Drainage systems should also be

covered to prevent litter from getting into them.

 Vegetation

Trees, shrubs and grass help protect the land from erosion by moving water. People in

low-lying areas must be encouraged to use a lot of vegetation to help break the power of

moving flood water and also help reduce erosion.

 Education

in Ghana, drainage systems are chocked with litter and people have little knowledge of

the effects that can have during a rain. When it rains, waterways and culverts are blocked

by massive chunks of litter and debris, and water finds its way into the streets and into

people’s homes. Education is therefore very important, to inform and caution people on

the dangers of floods, what causes floods, and what can be done to minimize its impact.

 Detention basin

these are small reservoirs built and connected to waterways. They provide a temporary

storage for floodwaters

 Government strengthening its community planning policies.

SLUM DEVELOPMENTS

 Proper community planning

 Public education on slum and its effects

 Availability of Affordable houses

18
  Controlling rural urban migration

 Government creating more jobs

INADEQUATE UTILITY

 Ghana Water Company and the government must do best in developing other means of

producing water to meet growing population than relying on old plants, egg the

desalination water plant treatment providing water to other parts of the country.

 Developing various means of producing energy, egg. Solar, wing, bio, etc. than relying

on only hydro.

 Proper planning of the countries energy resource

4.0 CAUSES AND EFFECTS OF WATER PROBLEMS FACING COMMUNITIES IN

GHANA

Water is a fundamental human need. Each person on Earth requires at least 20 to 50 liters of

clean, safe water a day for drinking, cooking, and simply keeping themselves clean.

Polluted water isn’t just dirty it’s deadly. Some 1.8 million people die every year of diarrheal

diseases like cholera. Tens of millions of others are seriously sickened by a host of water-related

ailments many of which are easily preventable.

The United Nations considers universal access to clean water a basic human right, and an

essential step towards improving living standards worldwide.

19
Water-poor communities (in Ghana) are typically economically poor as well, their residents

trapped in an ongoing cycle of poverty. (www.koshland-science-museum.org, 2014)

Ghana’s water: Ghana since the beginning of 21st century has been facing water crisis majority

of which is caused by management inefficiency, high operational cost, and damaged distribution

networks (old pipes), lack of modern or new technologies that are effective and efficient.

Because of inefficiency in water management, Ghana could not determine properly the gap

between water treated and distributed to households. This gap is known as Non-Revenue Water

(NRW) or urban water loss.

CAUSES OF WATER PROBLEMS FACING COMMUNITIES IN GHANA

 Inability of the government and its bodies to develop various means of producing

portable water from our water bodies to meet our growing population demand.

 Inaccurate billing system

 Deficient customer registration, leakages caused by deteriorating infrastructure

 Poor water pressure management

 Inaccurate metering

 Reservoir overflow

 Unnecessary flushing

 Energy crisis, and illegal connections to water networks among other things.

20
EFFECTS OF WATER PROBLEMS FACING COMMUNITIES IN GHANA

 Water-poor communities are typically economically poor as well, their residents trapped

in an ongoing cycle of poverty.

 Education suffers when sick children miss school

 Economic opportunities are routinely lost to the impacts of rampant illness

 In place of portable, people depends on polluted water, which is deadly and causes

diarrheal diseases like cholera.

 High revenue is lost trying to solve this water issue

4.1 RECOMMENDATIONS REGARDING WATER PROBLEMS FACING

COMMUNITIES IN GHANA

 Ghana Water Company and the government must do best in developing other means of

producing water to meet growing population than relying on old plants, egg the desalination

water plant treatment providing water to other parts of the country.

 Proper laid down plan for community planning

 Corruption and bribery issue in the water production sector must be checked.

 Government must invest greatly in water production

 Public educations on how to handle non-portable water, avoid contaminated water,

treatment etc.

21
5.0 CONCLUSION

From the study above, Ghana as a developing country whom is trying to move to the next

generation in stabling its economy, has a lot of problems.

Community development and planning related problem is the major factor, slum, inadequate-

utilities, flooding etc. are all problems that needed to be checked. With the stated

recommendations and solution provided, can help develop the country than its current

challenging state.

22
REFERENCE

 Npong,F(2014) Solving Ghana Water Crisis, Available from https://www.koshland-science-

museum.org/water/html/en/Overview/Why-is-Safe-Water-Essential.html[Accessed 20/05/15]

 Sant’ Anna R. (2001). Soil degradation and crop production in arid regions of Africa. Paper

presented at the 4th Session of the Inter-African experts committee on African soils. Accra,

Ghana. 6–8 Aug, 2001. Sherr S.

 J. and Yadav S. (1996). Land degradation in the developing world: implications for food,

agriculture and the environment to 2020. IFPRI – Food, Agricultural and Environment

Discussion Paper 14. 36 pp.

 Bonsu, M. and Quansah, C. (1992). The importance of soil conservation for agricultural

and Economic development of Ghana. In Proceedings of the 12th and 13th Annual General

Meetings of the Soil Science Society of Ghana, Accra, Ghana. pp. 77-80.

 Bosu.W.K (2013) Accelerating the Control and Prevention of Non-Communicable Diseases

in Ghana: The Key Issues. - Non-communicable Diseases Control Programme, Disease

Control and Prevention Department, Ghana Health Service, Accra, Ghana. Vol. 2, No. 1

Postgraduate Medical Journal of Ghana.

 Myjoyonline,(2014) Ghana’s cholera outbreak worst in 30 years Available from,

www.myjoyonline.com[Accessed 20/05/15]

 Baafi.A.B (2010) Is Joblessness the Cause of the Very Armed Robbery Available from,

http://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/features/artikel.php?ID=197918&comment=0#

com[Accessed 22/05/15]

23
 Smith. K (2004). Environmental Hazards: Assessing Risk and Reducing

Disaster, Routledge Publishers, New York.

 Barbara.K.O (2011) Environmental Hazards In Ghanaian Cities: The Incidence Of Annual

Floods along the Aboabo River in the Kumasi Metropolitan Area (Kma) Of the Ashanti

Region of Ghana, Faculty of Social Sciences College of Art and Social Sciences, Department

of Geography and Rural Development, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and

Technology,pp 4

 Geocities (2015).Causes of flooding, Available

from,http://hk.geocities.com/ka_kit_one/causes2.htm[Accessed 22/05/15]

 Oduro.A.F (2009) Slum Upgrading and Prevention – The Time to Act Is Now, Available

from, http://www.modernghana.com/section/FeatureArticle[Accessed 22/05/15]

 Purc.com.gh, (2014) The Public Utilities Regulatory, Available

from,Commission http://www.purc.com.gh/purc/[Accessed 24/05/15]

 Boateng.K.A.(2014) De-lighting Ghanaians, the state of Ghana’s power sector, Available

from,citifmonline.com/Ghana [Accessed 24/05/15]

 Koshland-Science-Museum.Org, (2014) Why is Safe Water Essential, Available from

https://www.koshland-science-museum.org/water/html/en/Overview/Why-is-Safe-Water-

Essential.html? [Accessed 24/05/15]

24