A coastal engineering and climate adaptation specialist at the University of Skills Training and Entrepreneurial Development (USTED), Professor Isaac Boateng, has urged Ghanaian research funders to invest in studies that identify sustainable drainage solutions suited to local conditions.
Speaking at a workshop on teaching Sustainable Drainage Systems (SuDS) in Ghanaian TVET and higher education institutions, Prof. Boateng said research is needed to determine which interventions work best across the country.
“I therefore appeal to the Ghana Research Fund to consider investing in sustainable drainage system research in Ghana,” he said.
He also appealed to the British Council to consider additional funding for the project.
“Given the challenges, the British Council may consider giving the team additional funding to enable us to deal with the additional identified issues,” he said.
Prof. Boateng said international experience, including lessons from the United Kingdom, could inform Ghana’s efforts, but warned against adopting designs without adapting them to local conditions.
“Successful knowledge transfer does not mean copying designs without considering local realities,” he said, citing Ghana’s rainfall patterns, soil conditions, available materials, land constraints, maintenance capacity and financial circumstances.
He said locally generated evidence would help guide engineering practice and public policy, and called for field monitoring, student research and collaboration across disciplines.
The workshop addressed flooding and stormwater management challenges in Ghanaian communities. Prof. Boateng cited rapid urbanisation, changing rainfall patterns, expanding impermeable surfaces, blocked drains and encroachment on waterways as factors that can worsen flooding.
“Rather than treating stormwater as waste, we must manage it as a resource,” he said. Sustainable drainage approaches can slow runoff, support infiltration and storage, and improve water quality. Examples include rain gardens, permeable pavements, vegetated swales, green roofs and rainwater harvesting.
He said these approaches should complement conventional drainage and be selected according to local site conditions. He also called for SuDS concepts to be integrated into existing engineering, construction, environmental management and urban planning courses, with practical learning opportunities for students.
“A drainage system is not successful simply because it has been constructed. It must continue to function effectively throughout its service life,” he said, stressing the importance of inspection, maintenance, performance monitoring and long-term cost management.
“The drains we design today will influence the safety of our communities tomorrow,” he said. “The skills we teach today will shape the infrastructure of the next generation,” he added.
Associate Professor of Real Estate at Edinburgh Napier University and project lead, Dr Cletus Moobela, said the project aims to adapt international knowledge and solutions to Ghanaian conditions.
“Our aim is to take solutions developed and applied globally and adapt them to the Ghanaian context,” he said. “We recognise that not every solution will be suitable for Ghana,” he stated.
Dr Moobela said the project focuses on education and curriculum development rather than installing drainage systems at individual sites. The team is working with instructors and educational institutions to introduce SuDS into teaching.
“Our focus is on the institutions responsible for educating and training future professionals,” he said.
The project will assess whether instructors incorporate SuDS into their curricula, gather feedback from students and examine the extent to which educational institutions adopt the approaches.
Dr Moobela said graduates entering the built environment would be expected to apply what they learn in their professional careers.
Higher Education Project Manager at the British Council in Ghana, Afia Yeboah Agyeman, thanked Edinburgh Napier University and USTED for working together on the project.
“I want to say thank you to Edinburgh Napier and USTED for coming together on such an important project,” she said.
Afia said drainage problems were a major concern in Ghana and expressed hope that the project would make a positive difference.
“We are hoping to see the positive impact that this project will create,” she said.
She also hoped the initiative would attract more partnerships and funding so it could expand across other higher education institutions, with SuDS embedded in curricula and educators receiving further training.
“Moving forward, [we hope to] draw more partnerships, more funds to support this project on a larger scale across other higher education institutions and embed SuDS in the curriculum, [with] capacity building of teachers,” she said.
Afia said the project forms part of the British Council’s work to facilitate transnational education partnerships between Ghanaian institutions and UK universities. The Council facilitated five such partnerships last year, she said, enabling institutions to share expertise and explore ways to work together. The Council is also developing a policy to guide transnational education collaboration.