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Cities and extreme weather events: impacts of flooding and extreme heat on water and electricity services in Ghana

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posted on 2020-06-23, 12:59 authored by Sam KayagaSam Kayaga, Ebenezer Amankwaa, Katherine V. GoughKatherine V. Gough, Robert WilbyRobert Wilby, Mercy Abarike, Samuel Codjoe, Raymond Kasei, Cuthbert Nabilse, Paul Yankson, Peter Mensah, Karim Abdullah, Paula GriffithsPaula Griffiths
Extreme weather events disproportionately affect residents of low-income urban settlements in the Global South. This paper explores the impact of extreme heat and flooding on water and electricity services in Accra and Tamale, Ghana. Interviews with water/electricity providers and water quality analysis are combined with household interviews, focus group discussions and observations conducted in eight low-income urban settlements. The findings highlight the interconnected nature of service provision during extreme weather events, with challenges in one sector reinforcing problems in another, exacerbating difficulties with access. Although households can utilise rainwater during flooding, it is highly susceptible to faecal contamination, and electricity supplies are often disconnected. During extreme heat, demand for water and electricity outstrips supply, leading to severe shortages, especially in Tamale. Water and electricity service providers should consider their interconnected nature and adopt a joined-up approach to cope with extreme weather events, which are predicted to increase with climate change

Funding

British Academy under the Cities and Infrastructure Programme CI170211.

History

School

  • Architecture, Building and Civil Engineering
  • Sport, Exercise and Health Sciences
  • Social Sciences and Humanities

Department

  • Geography and Environment

Published in

Environment and Urbanization

Volume

33

Issue

1

Pages

131-150

Publisher

SAGE Publications

Version

  • VoR (Version of Record)

Rights holder

© International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED)

Publisher statement

This is an Open Access Article. It is published by Sage under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International Licence (CC BY-NC). Full details of this licence are available at: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/

Acceptance date

2020-06-15

Publication date

2020-09-19

Copyright date

2021

ISSN

0956-2478

eISSN

1746-0301

Language

  • en

Depositor

Dr Sam Kayaga. Deposit date: 22 June 2020

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