GWL assures Ghanaians tap water is safe to drink directly

Josephine Amuzu 10:04 - 20 October 2026

Tap water is safe to drink

Ghana Water Limited assures the public that tap water is safe to drink directly from the tap, meeting national and international safety standards.

Ghana Water Limited Communications Manager Stanley Martey says water flowing directly from taps is fresh and can be consumed without further treatment.
He says GWL’s water meets national and international drinking water standards, with quality assurance teams conducting regular checks.
Martey maintains that GWL shuts down operations if its water fails to meet the required drinking water standards.

Ghanaians can confidently drink water directly from their taps, provided it has not passed through a storage tank, according to Ghana Water Limited (GWL) Communications Manager, Stanley Martey.

Speaking on Adom FM’s Dwaso Nsem, Mr Martey said water flowing directly from the tap is fresh and usually less than 24 hours old.

When water is flowing directly from your tap and not from a tank, it means it is fresh and less than 24 hours old, he said.

He disclosed that he also sells tap water at his residence and drinks it directly from the tap.

According to Mr Martey, water produced by Ghana Water Limited meets both national and international drinking water standards.

Our water in Ghana meets international standards. Ghana Water has its standards, and globally the WHO also has standards for drinking water. Even if you do not meet every other standard, you must at least meet the standard for drinking water, he stated.

He added that GWL, which aspires to become a world-class company, has established water quality benchmarks that he said are higher than those of the Ghana Standards Authority.

Across the world, we are rated very highly. If water is coming directly from the tap, there is no problem with it, he added.

Mr Martey explained that the company has a quality assurance team that regularly checks water quality and introduces additional treatment chemicals when necessary to address external contaminants.

We have a quality assurance team that moves around to check the quality of the water so that we can introduce more chemicals to treat any exogenous materials in it. So Ghanaians should be rest assured, he said.

He stressed that GWL does not compromise on water safety, adding that the company shuts down operations if the water fails to meet the required drinking water standards.

“If the water does not meet the required standards for drinking water, we shut down,” he emphasised.

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