HOUSEHOLD DEMAND FOR IMPROVED SANITATION SERVICES IN KUMASI, GHANA - A CONTINGENT VALUATION STUDY

A contingent valuation survey was conducted in Kumasi, Ghana, to estim ate households' willingness to pay for two types of improved sanitatio n services: improved ventilated pit latrines and water closets connect ed to a sewer system. Over 1200 randomly selected households throughou t the city were interviewed. Most households were willing to pay more for improved sanitation service than they were currently paying for th eir existing sanitation system (mostly public and bucket latrines), bu t in absolute terms the potential revenues from households are not lar ge, of the order of US$1.40 per household per month (about 1-2% of hou sehold income). The results of the study confirm the conventional wisd om that conventional sewerage is not affordable to the vast majority o f households without massive government subsidies. On the other hand, it appears that only modest subsidies are required to achieve relative ly high levels of coverage with on-site sanitation (improved ventilate d pit latrines). This is because improved ventilated pit latrines are much cheaper than conventional sewerage and because most households ar e willing to pay about as much for a ventilated pit latrine as for a w ater closet connected to a sewer. Several tests were conducted to chec k the accuracy of respondents' answers to contingent valuation questio ns. The findings indicate that contingent valuation surveys can be suc cessfully carried out in cities in developing countries for public ser vices such as sanitation and that reasonably reliable information can be obtained on household demand for different sanitation technologies.