Community water infrastructure and the One Village One Dam Project: A case study of the Gia dam in the Kassena Nankana East Municipal District

Abstract

Water storage has avital role to play inimproving food security and reducing poverty,particularly in the geographical context of northern  Ghana that is characterized by short unimodal rainfall pattern .A wide range ofstorage structures are available with thecommonest being  dams.While thepositive effects of large dams have not been thoroughly utilized,the special appeal of small waterinfrastructure makes  them more preferred .Despite the focus on construction of smaller dams in some parts of northern Ghana ,not all of them remain  functional .While some are defective and silted , others are not well engineered , particularly , the Gia dam in the Kassena Nankana East  Municipal District in the Upper East Region . Consequently,they are not able to serve theirintended purposes.This paper is acase study of  theGia dam constructed under the One Village One Dam [1V1D]initiative and provides empirical evidence toinform current and future  dam construction.The study examines the shortcoming oftheexecution ofcommunity dams and argues that the planners need to  consider re - engineering and correct defects in the already constructed reservoirs . Community driven and better managed dams with  private sector led financing of rural waterinfrastructure projects would facilitate adequate water for all year -round farming and other   domestic activities . Alternative construction models are proposed for implementation.