Geographic distribution of registered packaged water production in Ghana: implications for piped supplies, groundwater management and product transportation

Packaged water consumption has grown rapidly in urban areas of many low‐income and middle‐income countries, but particularly in Ghana. However, the sources of water used by this growing packaged water industry and the implications for water resource management and transport ‐related environmental impacts have not been described. This study aimed to assess the spatial distribution of regulated packaged water production in Ghana, both in relation to demand for natural mineral water and hydrogeological characteristics. A total of 764 addresses for premises licensed to produce packaged water from 2009 to 2015 were mapped and compared to regional sachet water consumption and examined beverage import/export data. We found evidence to suggest that packaged water is transported shorter distances in Ghana than in developed countries. Groundwater abstraction for packaged water is low relative to piped water production and domestic borehole abstraction nationally, but may be locally significant. For natural mineral water, producers should be able to address the most widespread water quality hazards (including high salinity, iron and nitrates) in aquifers used for production through reverse osmosis treatment. In future, packaged water producer surveys could be used to quantify unregulated production, volumes of piped versus groundwater abstracted and treatment processes used.