Water   
Potable water supply in the urban/peri-urban areas of the Municipality has been a major challenge to the Assembly, especially when the Assembly has no direct control over urban water supply. Areas like Madina, Dome, Taifa, Agbogba, North Legon Extention, Adenta West and Ashongman Musuko have limited or no access to pipe-borne water. Others depend on tanker services and a few hand dug wells.

In general therefore, the price of water is fairly high in these urban communities. The situation is further worsened by the steadily increasing population through the influx of skilled and unskilled labour from the rural areas. To improve this situation the District Assembly will support and facilitate government strategies to accelerate the provision of safe water in the urban areas, especially the inclusion of rain water facilities when building.

In the rural areas and small towns however, the District Assembly is responsible for water supply. The Assembly is currently managing three small towns’ piped schemes through Water and Sanitation Development Boards (WSDD). These are Abokobi-Oyarifa-Teiman-Sesemi scheme, Kweiman-Danfa scheme and Pantang Area Pipe scheme. The three schemes cover twenty-three communities. This places an obligation on the Assembly to ensure that the facilities are managed in a sustainable manner.

The Municipal Water and Sanitation Team (MWST) has been established and trained by the Community Water and Sanitation Agency. The Team is to represents the Assembly in its water and sanitation activities to achieve favourable health outcomes, economic growth and sustained poverty reduction. About 92%% of the rural population has access to potable water either from a borehole or stand-pipe. The focus of the Assembly with regards to rural water supply over the plan period is to maintain and expand the current facilities to cover the remaining 18% of the rural population. This will mean ensuring that boreholes and stand pipes serve not more than 300 persons and 600 persons respectively. Adenkrebi community will have to be provided with potable water supply. Figure 5 shows distribution of water facilities in the municipality.

Some of the problems that need to be solved and the challenges to mange to ensure the achievement of the set target include:

1. Facilitate the provision of water in the urban areas
2. Enlisting the full participation of women in the management of the piped schemes
3. Improving the financial capacity of the Water and Sanitation Development Boards (WSDB)
4. Providing adequately trained and experienced technical staff on the WSDB
5. Over dependence on Donor support for water facilities

Sanitation
On the issue of sanitation in the Municipality, it appears that a number of people have access to some type of sanitation facilities either public or private. Others also resort to indiscriminate defecation in gutters, school compound and public refuse dumps. Total sanitation coverage is estimated at 31% for household facilities and 29% for institutions. The types of facilities in use include WC toilets, KVIPs, Household VIPs and public KVIPs. Pit latrine even though not approved by the Assembly is being used by some households even in the urban communities.

The urban communities, vis Madina, Taifa, Dome and Adenta West and Abgogba are in crisis and need urgent attention to clear the backlog and also provide for the ever increasing population. Household sanitation coverage in the above-mentioned urban communities is given below.

• Madina - 1 %
• Dome - 4%
• Taifa-3%    
• Adenta West - 5%   

The Municipal Assembly is currently not participating in the District Based Water and Sanitation Component of the Community Water and Sanitation Programme and would have to source funding from other source to improve the sanitation coverage in the municipality. The strategies would include social mobilization, financial and legal processes.

Some of the challenges in this sector include:

1. Ensuring sustained sanitation and good hygiene practices in the various communities and -        schools
2. Facilitate the provision of water in the urban communities
3. Provision of adequate sanitation facilities in the various schools, communities and other institutions       
4. Ensure the use of approved sanitation facilities in the various homes

Waste Management
The rate of waste generation and management in the municipality is a matter of concern to the Assembly. With the increasing influx of people and the rapid urbanization, huge amounts of human and industrial waste are generated at an alarming rate. It is estimated that about 750 tonnes of solid waste is generated monthly out of which 490 tonnes are collected which represents 63%. This leaves a substantial amount of backlog that creates various kinds of inconveniences including health hazard to people in the municipality. Out of the 490 tonnes collected the private sector collects about 81 % through door-to-door collection.

Apart from the door-to-door collection, waste is collected in containers placed at vantage points by the Assembly. The situation is compounded by the inadequate machinery and equipment by the Assembly and the private collectors. Also the absence of proper engineered final disposal site is a major constraint. In addition, solid waste is brought from neighboring Assemblies that is the Adenta Municipal, Accra Metropolitan and Ga West Municipal Assemblies to the crude dumping site at Abloradjei. The constant burning of the waste at the dumping site is creating serious air pollution and threatening the life of people in the surrounding communities. Generally however the following contribute to the major sanitation problems in the municipality.

1. Inadequate numbers of refuse containers
2. Irregular    and untimely refuse collection both at the communal dump site in some residential areas
3. Lack of engineered final disposal site
4. Inadequate machinery and equipment
5. A number of unauthorized dump sites

In view of the fact that the dumping site is patronized by other Assemblies, there is the need for cross districts project to relocate the site. This will be seriously pursued during the plan period. The Assembly has also prepared the Municipal Environmental Sanitation Strategy and Action Plan 2008-2015 to guide sanitation and waste management interventions.

Housing And Devleopment Control
Access to adequate housing is an important ingredient in the Municipal Assembly’s efforts to improve the livelihood of the people. The lack of sufficient housing units, especially in the urban areas of the Municipality has among other things contributed to overcrowding, development of illegal structures, conversion of commercial facilities to residential use, streetism and pressure on social facilities and amenities. This has resulted in the development of slums in areas like Madina around the central market and the proposed VRA lorry park and Adenta West popularly called Grovy.

To curb this situation, the Assembly will create the enabling environment for private sector-led estate development and also promote the construction of high rising residential flats to ensure maximum use of the limited land available. Investment in housing and other social amenities,
especially in the rural areas will help relocate and decongest the urban areas. The assembly has also adopted a policy to formally acquire public lands and other vacant lands to facilitate the provision of infrastructure in the future. Effective development control has seriously been hampered by the non-availability of layouts in a number of communities. Also the department of Town and Country Planning (T&CPD) which is in charge of development control lacks the requisite logistic support like vehicles, office equipment, in-service training and layouts just to mention a few. Communities without planning schemes including the following:

• Addoteiman, Boi, KponKpo, Pantang Village, Abokobi, Sesemi, Comet High land, West Adentan, Akporman, Aborman,

To achieve effective development control and increase housing stock, the Municipal Assembly will have to:        

1. Prepare structural plan for the Assembly
2. Update and review all sector layouts in the municipality
3. Acquire and protect lands for public/community use (schools, markets clinics and others)
4. Strengthening its physical Planning and Survey Departments
5. Facilitate the preparation of layout plans for settlements without planning schemes
6. Ensure adherence to the planning schemes
7. Public   education   of  building   regulations,   development   control,   building   permit acquisition procedures
8. Ensuring  that  the   T&CPD   of the  Assembly   is   equipped  to   supervise  physical development.    
9. Review the temporary structure permit issuance procedures

Disaster Management
Disaster management in the Assembly is under the jurisdiction of the National Disaster Management Organization (NADMO). The organization has been involved in the education of the populace on disaster management and prevention in various communities and market places. The activities of the Organisation have led to the identification of about 15 areas as flood prone areas and 14 as swampy areas in the municipality.