Mains water in Accra is supplied by Ghana Water Limited. Whether it reaches your tap depends on where you live, how high you are, and what day it is.

Large parts of the city are on informal rationing. Water comes at night, or on certain days, or during certain weeks. The household infrastructure that everyone builds around this is not a sign of a problem — it is simply how Accra houses work.

The polytank

A polytank is a plastic storage tank, usually black, usually on a stand or a roof. When the mains run, it fills. When they stop, you draw from it.

A 1,000-litre tank costs around ₵1,400 and larger sizes are common for families.

If you are renting, establish before you sign:

  • Is there a tank? How big, and how old?
  • Is there a pump, and who pays for the electricity it uses?
  • Is the tank shared with other units in the compound?
  • Who cleans it? Tanks need cleaning; a neglected one grows things.

A property without storage in a rationed area is a property you will regret.

What to check when viewing

When the mains do not come

Tanker delivery. Private tankers deliver bulk water, at around ₵600 a load depending on volume and distance. Every neighbourhood has numbers circulating. Get one from a neighbour before you need it, because everyone calls at once during a shortage.

Check what you are being sold. Tanker water quality varies, and it is generally treated as suitable for washing rather than drinking.

Buying from a neighbour with a borehole is common and normal.

Boreholes are widespread, particularly in outer areas. Water quality depends entirely on the aquifer and the construction — some is excellent, some is saline or contaminated. Test before drinking from one.

Drinking water

Most people in Accra do not drink from the tap.

Sachet water — the ubiquitous 500ml plastic sachets, universally called pure water. Cheap, sold everywhere, and you bite the corner off. Quality depends on the producer; look for a brand with an FDA registration number printed on it.

Bottled water — more expensive, more consistent.

Bulk dispensers — 18.9-litre bottles with a dispenser at home or in the office. The cheapest per litre for a household that drinks a lot of it.

Filters and boiling — a decent domestic filter pays for itself quickly if you are otherwise buying sachets, and it produces far less plastic waste.

The sachet water problem

Sachets are cheap, safe and enormously convenient, and the discarded plastic is one of Accra’s most visible environmental problems. It clogs the gutters, and clogged gutters are a large part of why the city floods. A filter and a reusable bottle is a meaningful individual change. — Waste collection

Bills

Ghana Water bills are issued periodically, and tariffs are set by the Public Utilities Regulatory Commission alongside electricity tariffs.

Pay by MoMo, at Ghana Water offices, or through the app.

If you are renting, establish whether the water account is in your name or the landlord’s, and whether the meter serves your unit alone. A shared water bill split by informal estimate is a reliable source of argument in a compound house.

Check for arrears before moving in. An unpaid balance left by a previous tenant becomes your disconnection.

Flooding

Accra floods. It floods most years, sometimes severely.

The causes are well understood: heavy seasonal rain falling on a city that has built over its natural drainage, gutters blocked with plastic waste, and development on waterways. The Odaw river and the areas around Circle, Kaneshie, Adabraka and Alajo are repeatedly affected.

The June 2015 flood, which coincided with a fuel station explosion at Circle and killed more than 150 people, is the disaster the city measures others against.

Before renting anywhere:

  • Look at the gutters — are they clear, or full?
  • Look for water marks on nearby walls and gateposts
  • Ask neighbours directly: does this road flood in June?
  • Avoid ground floors near a watercourse

During heavy rain:

  • Do not drive or walk through moving floodwater. It is deeper and faster than it looks, and open drains disappear beneath it.
  • Do not take an okada in a downpour.
  • Wait it out somewhere with a roof. Accra rain is intense and usually brief.

Emergency number: 112. Fire and rescue: 192.

Weather and seasons

A practical setup

For a household in a rationed area, the standard kit is:

  1. A polytank sized to at least a week of household use
  2. A pump, if the tank is at ground level
  3. A filter or a bulk dispenser for drinking water
  4. A tanker company’s number saved in your phone
  5. Buckets — genuinely, buckets — for the days when neither works