THE WHITE VOLTA SUB-BASIN - Sustainable Irrigation Development in the White Volta Sub-Basin - page 26

and the 1992 Constitution. The principle implies that there is no private
ownership of water in Ghana, but that the President, or anyone so
authorised by him, may grant rights for water use. It also implies that with
good governance and practice, the principle is expected to ensure that water
allocation for various uses will be beneficial to the public interest and also
for the greatest good of society.
The WRC Act, 1996 (Act 552) conferred on the Water Resources
Commission the mandate to enact regulations on water use. The Water Use
Regulations, 2001 (L.I. 1692) provides procedures for allocating permits for
various water uses including domestic, commercial, municipal, industrial,
agricultural, power generation, water transportation, fisheries (aquaculture),
environmental, recreational and under water (wood) harvesting.
The Irrigation Development Authority Regulations, 1987 (L.I. 1350) provides
procedures for managing irrigation projects including water management
within such projects. Ghana Irrigation Development Authority's (GIDA)
Technical Guidelines for Irrigated Agriculture, 2004, gives further details on
how to effectively manage water for irrigated agriculture including water
supply, distribution and application management.
Individuals, institutions, NGO's, agencies and authorities are required to
apply for and be granted a permit to use water before engaging in surface
water or groundwater abstractions for domestic, commercial, industrial and
agricultural use.
Categories of water use that are exempted from the permit requirement
include:
 Preventive use of water for the purpose of fighting fire; and
 Any water abstraction by manual means.
 Additionally, some water use categories, even though exempted from
the permit requirements, have to be registered. These include:
o Water abstracted by mechanical means for use where abstraction
does not exceed 5 liters per second (432 cubic meters in any
period of 24 hours);
o Subsistence agriculture water use for land not exceeding 1
hectare.
Customary water management in Ghana has been in existence before the
colonial days (Lautze et al., 2008). Indigenous institutions in the Akan
cultures (which occupy much of the southern Volta basin) invariably tie
management of natural resources to their religious belief system. According
to Akan beliefs, the Earth was accorded a spirit of its own, which could be