Reducing the spread of COVID-19 partly depends on easy access to water to ensure adherence to good hygienic practices. However, most communities in Ghana face a series of challenges in accessing improved water sources. This study seeks to examine water access and its associated challenges, and the various strategies adopted by households to cope with these challenges in the Yilo Krobo Municipality of Ghana during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic. Both qualitative and quantitative methods were employed. Communities were stratified into rural and urban, and 400 households were randomly sampled for questionnaire administration. The data was inputted into SPSS and the results were analyzed using chi-square and descriptive statistics. Purposive and convenient sampling was used to select 30 informants for the qualitative interviews and the results were analyzed using thematic content analysis. The findings show that about 68.5% of households have access to pipe-borne water during COVID-19 compared to 8% who use unhygienic sources. Most households (54.5%) depended on pipe-borne water sources outside their dwellings. The main water accessibility challenge during the COVID-19 pandemic was the increased cost of water (41%) even though water provision was supposed to be free during the early period of the pandemic. Most respondents adapted to the situation by storing water using small-sized storage facilities and also had to buy from other vendors at an expensive rate. The study recommends the formation of a water and sanitation board and an increase in the capacity of the pumping station to ensure adequate provision of potable water for the communities on a sustainable basis.

Ghana is witnessing an increase in the construction of coastal flood defence walls on its coast but the effects of the coastal defence on people have not been well documented. This paper explores two issues: (1) indigenous strategies for preventing sea erosion and (2) the effects the modern coastal flood defence structures constructed along the southeastern coast of Ghana are having on the people. This study provides new insights into the understanding of indigenous methods that were used to address coastal flooding in the eastern section of Ghana and the effects the modern coastal defence structures are having on the people. Through multiphase sampling, a sample of 282 residents living in 17 communities affected by sea erosion in the Keta, Anloga, and Ada East District Assemblies where coastal defence structures were constructed were selected. Questionnaires were administered to these 282 respondents. Focus Group Discussions (FGDs) were also held in three communities, namely Keta, Atorkor and Totepe where coastal defence structures were constructed. The planning officers of the 3 district assemblies, the chief fishermen in the 3 communities where the FGDs were held, leaders of salt winners and 3 elders in each community were the key informants. Using descriptive statistics, the study revealed that, indigenous strategies like filling the beach with sand, building away from the seashore, and raising the foundations of buildings were used to protect the houses and communities from sea erosion but these strategies are no longer working thereby forcing the government to construct ‘modern’ coastal flood defence wallson the coast. The ‘modern’ coastal defence structures are in some places protecting the people and the land since they no longer experience sea erosion on a large scale. However, in places where armour rocks are used to protect the land, people now see them as preventing them from enjoying the natural beach as they used to and as a hindrance to their livelihoods of fishing. It is recommended that, as far as possible, soft engineering strategies like beach nourishment or sand dunes which are in line with the indigenous methods be used since they can lead to easy adaptation for sustainability.

Open-surfaced water sources have been used to irrigate vegetable farms in cities. Open-surface water often contains unmonitored concentrations of health-threatening contaminants that pose health risks, especially when used to produce vegetables for human consumption. However, information on levels of heavy metals and faecal coliform bacteria in such vegetables in selected sites, especially in Greater Accra Metropolitan Area (GAMA) of Ghana is rare. This study examines the levels of heavy metals and faecal coliform in two vegetables-lettuce and bell pepper - that were cultivated using open-surface wastewater from drains and constructed reservoirs at different locations of the GAMA. Using concurrent mixed methods, questionnaires were administered to 67 vegetable farmers, followed by the collection of vegetable samples from three urban farm sites, Haatso and Dzorwulu and Weija irrigation scheme site (WISS) for laboratory analysis. The concentrations of Lead (Pb), Mercury (Hg) and Cadmium (Cd) were determined using atomic absorption spectroscopy after microwave digestion of the vegetables while total faecal coliform was quantified using MacConkey-Endo broth method. The results from all three sites showed that the concentrations of Cd (=0.001 μg/mg) and Pb (=0.005 μg/mg) in lettuce were within the World Health Organization's (WHO) permissible levels. However, the Hg (≥0.309 μg/mg) and faecal coliform (>5 count/100 ml) in the vegetables from all three sites exceeded the WHO permissible limits. Therefore, consumers of vegetables from such urban farms are exposed to health risks associated with Hg and faecal coliforms. There is the need to intensify education on the health risks of consuming vegetables produced from open-surface water sources from the observed sites. The enforcement of existing phytosanitary standards to enhance food safety and the quality of urban vegetables is also recommended.

Expansion of residential and commercial facilities have contributed to rapid urbanization of Ho municipality. As a result, quarry activities have intensified in Klefe a major stone quarry source for construction. The increased demand for quarry stones has created jobs for many but has also led to the perception of health and environment challenges negatively affecting the people and the natural environment. In view of the extensive quarry activities in the area, the aim of the study was to assess perceptions of effects of quarrying activities on human health and the environment. Stratified random sampling method was used to select respondents to answer questions on a questionnaire and application of a relative importance index to examine what the study community perceive as the most important environmental and health effects of quarrying. Exploratory factor analysis was used to determine relationships existing among environmental hazards and their perceived health effects. Sedimentation, land degradation and injury from quarrying were the main perceived effects of quarrying. Efforts to address any perceived effects of quarrying should focus on sedimentation, land degradation and injury from quarrying.