Housing arrangement of the Salamba (Area B) community
The project has conducted a demographic survey of the project area to establish detail numbers and figures relevant to inform effective decisions towards successful implementation of the pilot settled sewerage network project. A house-to-house approach was adapted in the process to acquire key data on about 160 compounds in the Salamba area (Area B) of the project community. The focus of the survey was on house owners and other occupants (landlords, landladies or people including tenants) who could provide information about their home of residence.
The data gathered were thematically coded such that similar issues/indicators were grouped under various themes of interest to establish their current status, and presented using descriptive statistics as in below key findings;
• The average number of inhabitants in a compound is approximately 24.
• Majority (64%) of the inhabitants (compounds) are into their own businesses such as trading
• The average earning of the inhabitants is GHc 230.48 (€50.00) per month.
• About 34.2% of the inhabitants have pipe connection on their premises. In the same vein, 21.7% of the inhabitants do not have pipe connection on their premises and so rely on their neighbours who are connected. Another 10.5% have access to water from water tanker (vendors) service providers and vendors at the vicinity with pipe connection.
• The average amount of water use by inhabitants (compound) per day is 76.7 gallons. The average distribution of water use is; laundry: 32.9%; bathing: 31.2%; cleaning: 3.2%; toilet: 3.5% and drinking: 4%.
• About 91.4% of the houses do not have toilet facilities installed in their compounds. Ninety-nine point two percent (99.2%) of houses with tenants do not have toilets facilities installed for use by the tenants.
• The average amount inhabitants (compounds) are willing to pay to connect to sewerage system is approximately GHc 151.00 (€34.00), and the average amount they are willing to pay monthly as service charge is GHc 28.00.
• About 87.9% of the inhabitants are willing and ready to use part of their savings to build or improve their toilets.
• About 76.2% of the inhabitants have never taken any loan or credit; however, 55.0% of them are willing to take a credit or loan to improve their sanitation situation.
A cursory assessment of the results of the survey suggest that majority of the houses are willing to get connected to the sewerage network. The motivators driving the willingness of houses to connect to the system hinge on the fact that they;
• have been informed about the project; and
• have the desire to change their current sanitation situation.
The results of the survey have again offered critical and relevant information for consideration in the design and construction of the various components of the project and also to ensure during implementation that “water used” are adopted in the salamba (Area B) community as house level toilet technology and other to be able to get connected to the sewerage system.
