Access to water supply and sanitation in Ethiopia is amongst the lowest in Sub-Saharan Africa and the entire world. While access has increased substantially with funding from foreign aid, much still remains to be done. Some factors inhibiting the achievement of these goals are the limited capacity of water bureaus in the country's 13 regions, two city administrations and water desks in the 770 districts of Ethiopia (woredas); insufficient cost recovery for proper operation and maintenance; and different policies and procedures used by various donors, notwithstanding the Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness.
In 2001 the government adopted a water and sanitation strategy that called for more decentralized decision-making; promoting the involvement of all stakeholders, including the private sector; increasing levels of cost recovery; as well as integrating water supply, sanitation and hygiene promotion activities. Implementation of the policy apparently is uneven.
In 2005 the government announced highly ambitious targets to increase coverage in its Plan for Accelerated Sustained Development and to End Poverty (PASDEP) for 2010. The investment needed to achieve the goal is about US$300 million per year, compared to actual investments of US$39 million in 2001–2002. In 2010 the government presented the equally ambitious Growth and Transformation Plan (GTP) 2011–2015, which aims at increasing drinking water coverage, based on the government's definition, from 68.5% to 98.5%.Ministry of Finance and Economic Development:Growth and Transformation Plan, Draft, September 2010, p. 18 While donors have committed substantial funds to the sector, effectively spending the money and to ensure the proper operation and maintenance of infrastructure built with these funds remain a challenge.
Water resources and use
Ethiopia has 12 river basins with an annual runoff volume of 122 billion m3 of water and an estimated 2.6–6.5 billion m3 of ground water potential. This corresponds to an average of 1,575 m3 of physically available water per person per year, a relatively large volume. However, due to large spatial and temporal variations in rainfall and lack of storage, water is often not available where and when needed.International Water Management Institute:Water Resources and Irrigation Development in Ethiopia, Working Paper 123, by Seleshi Bekele Awulachew, Aster Denekew Yilma, Makonnen Loulseged, Willibald Loiskandl, Mekonnen Ayana and Tena Alamirew, 2007 Only about 3% of water resources are used, of which only about 11% (0.3% of the total) is used for domestic water supply.World Resources Institute:Water Resources and Freshwater Ecosystems COUNTRY PROFILE - Ethiopia, accessed on September 10, 2010, withdrawal data are for 1987
The capital Addis Ababa's main source of drinking water is the Gafsara dam built during the Italian occupation and rehabilitated in 2009. Wells and another dam complement the supply.Jigjiga TV News. Gafarsa Water Dam Project Completed, 16 August 2009UN Habitat. Water for African Cities. Addis Ababa City Programme , retrieved on 25 September 2010
The city of Dire Dawa is supplied exclusively from groundwater that is highly polluted.UN Habitat. Water for African Cities. Dire Dawa City Programme , retrieved on 25 September 2010 The situation is most dramatic in Harar where "a steady decrease of the level of Lake Alemaya has resulted in the complete closure of the treatment plant". Due to supply shortfall, water vendors sell untreated water at extremely high prices.UN Habitat. Water for African Cities.Harar City Programme , retrieved on 25 September 2010 The lake dries up because of local climate change, changes in land use in its basin and increased irrigation of khat, a mild drug that is being grown for local consumption and export.UNEP Atlas of our changing environment. Lake Alemaya, Ethiopia, 12 June 2008, retrieved on 26 September 2010 A pipeline is expected to bring water over a distance of 75 km from a well field near Dire Dawa to Harar.African Development Bank. Harar Water Supply & Sanitation Project , approved on September 4, 2002, retrieved on September 27, 2010
People who have no access to improved supply usually obtain water from rivers, unprotected springs and hand-dug wells. Well, rivers and springs can be contaminated and can cause waterborne diseases. Rainwater harvesting is also common.
Groundwater The great majority of the rural community water supply relies on groundwater through shallow wells, deep wells and springs. Data from 2012 estimated that 70% of domestic water use in rural Ethiopia is supplied by groundwater, and large cities like Addis Ababa get up to 40% of water supply and industrial water use from groundwater. Text was copied from this source, which is available under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
Volcanic rocks are the most extensive and accessible aquifers in central Ethiopia. In terms of groundwater storage, loose sediments are the most important aquifers.
Shallow groundwater sites are recharged by local sources, for example the Addis Ababa pocket wells, Akaki well fields, and Ada'a plain. These well fields are in urban areas and are used as water sources of major settlements and industries. For this reason, these groundwater resources are at risk of groundwater contamination
In Central Ethiopia, many of the aquifers are volcanic which leads to a high degree of heterogeneity of the groundwater flow systems. A detailed analysis of the groundwater flow systems is needed for decision-making to achieve sustainable water resource management.
Groundwater exploration is taking place in the upper Awash sub-basin: "More than 300 boreholes have been drilled in this area for the municipality, irrigation, industries, and different private owners under a government-promoted self-supply policy." For example deep boreholes were drilled to supply water to Addis Ababa city. There are also well fields in Addis Ababa city, Akaki, South Ayat, Legedadi, and Sebeta Tefki. Deep boreholes are also supplying water to large-scale irrigation schemes in Becho plain and Alliadege plains. However, there is a rapid decline in groundwater level in the major well fields such as Akaki well field.
There is usually an assumption that groundwater well are recharged from groundwater flows in the highlands which would make them quite resilient to climate variations. However, research has shown that recharge mechanisms are complex. There are "shallow groundwater systems fed by local recharge sources" as well as "deep systems connected to the regional flow from the plateau". Those groundwater system that are fed by local recharge sources need to be carefully monitored and protected from local contamination.
Poor waste management practice in Addis Ababa city and Akaki areas has the potential to contaminate shallow groundwater systems. Similarly, new urban settlements and industrial zones in areas that were formerly farmland, such as Ada'a plain (Bishoftu and Mojo areas), can also be a threat to groundwater systems.
Water allocation Partnerships with the Awash Basin Development Office (AwBDO) and the Ministry of Water, Irrigation and Electricity (MoWIE) have led to the development of new models of water allocation in the Awash basin. This can improve water security for the 18.3 million residents in the basin. With this they will have enough water for their domestic, irrigation and industry needs.Murgatroyd, A., Charles, K.J., Chautard, A., Dyer, E., Grasham, C., Hope, R., Hoque, S.F., Korzenevica, M., Munday, C., Alvarez-Sala, J., Dadson, S., Hall, J.W., Kebede, S., Nileshwar, A., Olago, D., Salehin, M., Ward, F., Washington, R., Yeo, D. and Zeleke, G. (2021). Water Security for Climate Resilience Report: A synthesis of research from the Oxford University REACH programme . University of Oxford, UK: REACH. Text was copied from this source, which is available under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
Access
Drinking water
In 2017 only 11% of the population used a safely managed drinking water service on their premises. Another 30% used a "basic service" (less than 30 minutes round trip for water collection), with the remainder having to rely on "limited service" (more than 30 minutes), "unimproved sources" (such as unprotected dug wells or springs) or surface water.
Ethiopia is lower than the global average for access to piped water but higher than the average for sub-Saharan Africa: at 41% of the population using piped water (88% urban and 22% rural). Within these statistics, access to safely managed drinking water will vary within and between large cities, medium- and small-towns. Urban water insecurity in Ethiopia is driven by socio-political processes, climate change and urbanisation. Text was copied from this source, which is available under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
In communities that lack access to water on or close to their premises, women bear the brunt of the burden of collecting water. For example, in the mountain-top village Foro in the Konso special woreda of southwestern Ethiopia women make three to five round trips per day to fetch dirty water from the Koiro river. Each roundtrip lasts two to three hours and water is carried in "50-pound jerrycans".
Sanitation and hygiene Only 7% of the population used a safely managed sanitation service, 7% only had "limited service" (latrines shared with other households), 63% had to rely on "unimproved service" (e.g. a simple pit or a bucket) and 22% defecate in the open.
Service quality
Drinking water quality
Drinking water quality in Ethiopia varies. The most comprehensive picture of drinking water quality are the results of a national statistically representative survey of piped water supply, boreholes, protected dug wells and protected springs carried out by the WHO and UNICEF in 2004–2005. It shows that 72% of samples complied with the values for coliform bacteria in the Ethiopian drinking water standard ES 261:2001 and the WHO guidelines for drinking water. In the case of piped water supply by utilities compliance was highest at 88%. Open wells and unprotected springs were not included in the survey. Besides bacterial contamination, natural contamination with fluoride is an issue in the Rift Valley. The results of the survey confirm the results of routine monitoring undertaken in the laboratories of the Regional Water Bureaus and the Regional Health Bureaus. The latter results are archived at the Ethiopian Health and Nutrition Research Institute. Interaction and exchange of information between regional health bureaus and regional water bureaus is poor.
In regions where drinking water is sourced from groundwater, attention needs to be paid to water chemistry quality parameters: Groundwater chemistry is an area of concern for water management in Ethiopia due to geogenic hazards, saline intrusion, and pressures from waste streams and other activities associated with agriculture, industry, and urbanization. Health hazards from groundwater chemistry are wide-spread.
Chemical contaminants occur widely in groundwaters that are used for drinking but are not regularly monitored. Example priority parameters are fluoride, arsenic, nitrate, or salinity. There is generally not enough data to fully understand distribution of risk. The available data tends to have a bias because research tends to focus on areas of high-profile contamination only. Furthermore, there are only few laboratories available in Ethiopia that can carry out these chemical analyses.
Intermittent supplies