By Mabel Adorkor Annang
The Western Region, Accra West and Tema recorded the highest levels of non-revenue water in Ghana’s urban water sector in the first quarter of 2026, with losses of 66.1 per cent, 57.2 per cent and 56.8 per cent respectively.
The Public Utilities Regulatory Commission (PURC) says the three areas are priority locations for interventions to reduce water losses and improve operational efficiency.
The figures are contained in PURC’s latest Urban Water Sector Performance at a Glance report.
Ghana Water Limited (GWL) recorded an overall non-revenue water level of 49.2 per cent, exceeding the regulatory benchmark of 43 per cent by 6.2 percentage points.
Only three of GWL’s 13 operational regions met the benchmark, while the remaining 10 recorded losses above the regulatory threshold.
PURC recommends a comprehensive non-revenue water reduction programme for the Western Region, including water-balance assessments, leakage detection, metering interventions and investigations into commercial losses.
For Accra West and Tema, the Commission says reducing water losses could significantly improve operational and commercial efficiency, given the high volumes of water sold in the two areas.
Meanwhile, Ashanti North, Upper East and Volta recorded non-revenue water levels of 43.2 per cent, 43.8 per cent and 44.1 per cent respectively.
PURC says these regions are close to the regulatory benchmark and could achieve compliance through targeted corrective measures.
These include intensified leakage detection and repair, improved meter accuracy, replacement of defective meters, action against illegal connections, and improved billing and customer database management.
The report also shows that water production and sales increased during the quarter.
National water production rose by one per cent, from 86.97 million cubic metres in the first quarter of 2025 to 87.88 million cubic metres during the same period in 2026.
Water sales increased by 3.7 per cent, from 43.10 million cubic metres to 44.68 million cubic metres.
PURC says the faster growth in water sales compared with production indicates an improvement in the proportion of produced water being converted into billed or sold water.
The Accra-Tema Metropolitan Area (ATMA) remained the largest water-producing system, accounting for 55.48 million cubic metres of national production.
PURC says improving operational efficiency, distribution management and loss reduction in the ATMA system could have a significant impact on GWL’s overall performance.
The Commission is therefore calling for targeted loss-reduction measures, particularly in areas recording the highest levels of non-revenue water.
More Stories Here
