Ghana’s Kumasi City: An Unchecked Urban Boom Threatens Vital Rivers with Pollution.

What used to be the cultural city in Ghana, Kumasi City, is now left chasing its tail in fending off the serious consequences of unplanned urbanization. Unconstrained growth has turned two of the main rivers—the Owabi and Subin—within the city into receiving stations for sewage, heavy metals, and chemical pollutants. While this environment is being damaged locally and nationally it has implications for health and well-being. 

The case of Kumasi simply mirrors the broader problem across most African cities, where rapid urbanization outpaces infrastructure development. In an expanding city that is not planned, natural resources like rivers and forests are usually the first to be destroyed.

Kumasi’s water supply, served by the Owabi and Subin rivers, is at risk of contamination due to increasing pollution, which ultimately threatens the supply of water to millions of people and the local ecosystem. These rivers have been contaminated with heavy metals like lead and mercury, often coming from illegal mines and industrial wastes, and are widely dangerous to health, especially among children and pregnant women. 

Furthermore, pollution entrenches social inequalities. Communities who live beside these rivers bear the worst part—the poorest in the city. ST: They drink from these contaminated water sources, cook with them, and wash in them, which rear a variety of waterborne diseases. The government taking no measures regarding this issue speaks to a broader neglect of environmental justice issues in urban planning. 

This is high time for an integrated approach towards urban planning in Ghana to be taken seriously. The government needs to pay more attention to the aspects of sustainable development so that urban growth balances with the environment through stricter regulations on industrial waste disposal, better treatment systems for municipal waste, and conservation of natural resources. Moreover, decent awareness created by the public regarding the importance of the conservation of the environment and the dangers of pollution is necessary.   

This article by Brickstone reviews the conversation’s publication on Ghana Kumasi’s City Unplanned Boom.  
 
Read the complete publication here.