Wastewater pollution and its implications for urban health and decent accommodation: evidence from mega cities in Ghana

Wastewater production continues to increase daily in major cities in Africa and Ghana, where urbanisation is surging with little effort to control the situation. Literature on wastewater management in the academic space is enormous; however, studies on how wastewater affect human health, linking it to decent accommodation, are very limited. This study explored how wastewater pollution impacts urban health and decent accommodation in Kumasi and Accra. Adopting the case study research design and using purposive sampling, face-to-face interviews, observation, and a semi-structured questionnaire, 122 respondents, including 120 household respondents and two waste management officials, were selected. It reveals that the most common type of wastewater produced in Accra and Kumasi is the black wastewater from both residential and industrial buildings. It shows that wastewater pollution has limited the enjoyment of the right to and use of space in residential apartments by those whose housing is close to wastewater tunnels and gutters. The stench from these nearby gutters, coupled with insect and fly invasion, makes those accommodation units nearby indecent for habitation. The alarming rates of indiscriminate wastewater and general waste disposal call for the implementation of the polluter pays principle, which targets specifically indiscriminate disposers to reduce the menace. The establishment of a special task force mandated to bring perpetrators of indiscriminate waste disposal to book is recommended. The construction of a more advanced wastewater treatment plant that can separate black wastewater from gray wastewater and yellow wastewater from Brown wastewater will increase sustainable wastewater management in Ghana from a metropolitan-based perspective. The achievement of Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 3 (Health and Well-being), SDG 11 (Sustainable cities), and SDG 6 (Clean Water and Sanitation) in Ghana is at stake due to the preponderance of wastewater pollution in these two megacities. The compulsory construction of soakaways in both industrial and residential housing is recommended. Moreover, the extent to which wastewater pollution impacts decent accommodation has been established in this study; however, further research using statistical tools to investigate the significance of the effect will be appropriate to understand the impacts of the economic rent and inform policy formulation for property management in polluted areas across the country.