The state of handpump water services in Ghana: findings from three districts

This paper presents findings of water service monitoring in three districts in Ghana, using the national water service monitoring framework, which has been developed, based on the norms and standards set for rural water supply by the Community Water and Sanitation Agency. Only 21% of handpumps were found to meet national norms and standards for water services in terms of reliability, accessibility, quality and quantity. Service providers who operate and maintain these handpumps also scored low on compliance with norms and guidelines related to governance, operations and financial management. The monitoring data showed positive correlations between service provider and service authority performance and service levels. Nevertheless, even service providers managing reliable handpumps were found to often not meet the benchmark on certain service provider indicators, which raises the question on whether the benchmarks on these indicators may have been set too high.