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SOCIAL SERVICES: IMPROVEMENT IN TOWN WATER SUPPLY IN GHANA THE WAY FORWARD
1The current situation
in towns 1.1 Demographics
From a demographic point of view alone, towns are increasingly important in development planning. In regional terms, the 60:40 rural: urban
population in Africa and Asia is expected to shift towards the current 25:75 split in Europe, Latin America and North America. Of the urban population, about half live in towns and half live in cities; but as urban growth concentrates in towns, villages grow and develop to become towns, the number of people living in towns in Africa, Asia and Latin America is expected to double in fifteen years, and double again within thirty years. For the purpose of this document, three size-classes have been chosen for towns: small towns of between 2,000 and 20,000
populations; medium-size towns of between 20,000 and 50,000 populations; and large towns of between 50,000 and 200,000 populations. The need to provide water and sanitation services in a large number of small settlements, as well as a smaller number of large settlements adds another dimension to the ‘town challenge’, because the characteristics of different sizes of towns can be expected to differ in terms of settlement patterns, population density, water supply technology, management requirements and revenue base.