Despite the massive commitment by policy makers and stakeholders to increase the supply of
water to households in Ghana, many households have a deficiency in their self-reported daily
quantity of water required for drinking and for general use. This paper focuses on the effect of
water source and travelling time on households’ deficiency in demand for water using the Sixth
Round of the Ghana Living Standards survey. A Tobit regression analysis of data on 2,843
households reveals that a one minute increase in travelling time increases household deficiency in
water demand by about 49 percent. Also, compared to pipe in dwelling/yard/plot, all other sources
of water to the households come with greater levels of water deficiency, with unprotected
well/spring/river-stream/dam-lake-pond generating the greatest (10.5 litres) levels of deficiency.
Other significant predictors of household deficiency in water demand are per capita disposable
income, number of rooms in the household, sex of the household head and regular payment of
water bills. Government policies aimed at addressing household deficiency in water demand
should focus on making more resources available to the Ghana Water Company Limited (GWCL)
and the Community Water and Sanitation Agency so as to achieve more coverage of water
accessible to both urban and rural households.