Powershifts, organisational value, and water management: Digital transformation of Ghana's public water utility

Abstract

There are fundamental unresolved questions about the nature of the interplay between digital innovations and water management processes. However, there has been little research on how increasing digital transformation impacts water management and infrastructure in the Global South. This article draws on a socio-technical lens and primary field data to analyse the digital transformation of water management in Ghana's state water utility company. Digital water innovations were found to be recent and delivering relatively limited impacts yet, with value mainly accruing at the utility's operational rather than strategic level, and incremental, not transformative. Digitalisation and datafication also present avenues for power shifts, internal and external struggles, and changes in water management structures and responsibilities. The paper ends with a brief discussion of the implications for water service governance and research and suggestions for using data and information generated from digital water infrastructure to improve services.