Water is everything for human beings. The food we eat, the substance we drink, the cloth we dress and our day to day activities are directly or indirectly associated with water. Although water is the most abundant substance on earth, it is rarely found naturally in its pure form. Most of the time, pure water has to be created.
Access to water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) services is a fundamental human right that is critical to improving health, human growth, and development. Access to WASH services is directly linked to the health of individuals and communities. Universal access to safe drinking water, adequate sanitation, and good hygiene practices has the potential to reduce the global disease burden.
These days, access to clean water is one of the daunting challenges for developing countries such as Ethiopia. Some parts of Ethiopia face water shortages, poor sanitation, and a lack of access to clean water sources. Ethiopia is located in Africa’s Horn where drought is the leading causes of water shortage.
In Ethiopia, the 2019 Mini-EDHS report indicated that only 61% of the households in rural areas obtain drinking water from improved sources, and more than half (56%) of rural households use unimproved toilet facilities. While substantial progress has been made in increasing access to WASH services, billions of people, mostly in rural areas, still lack access to these basic services
Over the past years, droughts have affected several areas of the country, leading to ponds, wells, streams and lakes drying up or becoming extremely shallow. Many people living outside of the cities collect water from these shallow water sources, which are often contaminated with human and animal waste, worms, or disease.
During months and sometimes years of drought, disease runs rampant through small villages and towns. Frequently there is not enough water for people to bathe, leading to infections and sickness in children. Water borne illnesses, such as cholera or diarrhea, are the leading cause of death in children under five years old in Ethiopia.
In addition to illness, many Ethiopian children, especially girls, face problems with school. The others are put to work collecting water each morning and helping their families earn money.
Ethiopia is a nation full of beauty and culture. However it is being severely affected by water shortages. Fields are drying up and farmers are fighting over irrigation resources. Also, children in villages are losing out on education and instead are spending their days collecting water for their families. In the coming years, outside organizations will be of great need to help alleviate the country’s water shortages.
Historically, a number of factors have affected the development and management of water sector in Ethiopia. These issues are discussed in detail in a recent review of the water sector carried out by the Ministry of Water Resources (MoWR).
In order to address these issues, the MoWR is pursuing a three-prong sector reform agenda in the water sector with an aim to secure basis for sustainable development and management of country’s water resources.
One important element of this agenda is the formulation of national water strategy. The main objective of the water strategy is to translate the national water resources management policy into action.
In other words, the national water strategy aims at providing a road map in terms of ways and means to attain the water policy objectives-with due recognition to the principles around which these objectives have been developed.
The overall goal of the national water resources management policy is: to enhance and promote all national efforts towards the efficient, equitable, and optimum utilization of the available water resources of Ethiopia for significant socio-economic development on sustainable basis. To realize this goal, the Government has spelled out a wide range of policies to achieve policy objectives.
As per the policy and objectives, the Ethiopian government devised various projects with the aim to resolve water and sanitation related problems. One is the Second Ethiopia Urban Water Supply and Sanitation Project.
The objective of the Project is to increase access to enhanced water supply and sanitation services in an operationally efficient manner in Addis Ababa and selected Secondary Cities. The first component, Sanitation and water supply services improvements in Addis Ababa will finance the construction of sanitation facilities in various settlements and socio economic situations and will seek to implement appropriate cost-effective sanitation options.
Last Monday, the ministry of water and energy said that it has been implementing a 523 million USD project to improve access to water and sanitation services in 10 cities across the country. MoWE sanitation infrastructure lead executive officer Nuredin Mohammed told that the Ministry has been employing the second urban water supply and sanitation project to increase access to basic water supply and sanitation services.
The project also helps to improve operational efficiency of water and sanitation utilities in 10 cities. For this project, the World Bank group allotted over 460 million USD while the balance is secured from other donors.
The ministry has conducted the research that is necessary to translate the project into reality and purchased and distributed different materials to regional states. Now most of the preparation activities have been finalized and the remaining task is the construction of the treatment plant especially for sanitation centers. Now we are launching the construction.
The project would enable the ministry to expand infrastructure, strengthen capacity building and support post construction. Various projects are underway with the support of the government and development partners. They are in different levels of execution.
As part of improving the sanitation services, 1000 public toilets are under construction across the country.
He further highlighted the ministry’s focus to resume water and sanitation services and infrastructure projects in Tigray State, which were severely damaged by the conflict. While the ministry purchased electro mechanical devices worth one million USD to resume the service in Mekelle. It has made a similar attempt to Adigrat.
The accomplishment of these activities would give a huge relief for residents and these two cities are part of the second urban water supply and sanitation project, beneficiary of post construction activities.
Emergency approaches such as resource mobilization, infrastructure reparation and service resumption have addressed timely problems in different areas. Moreover it has been focusing on sustainable solutions in areas affected by the recurrent drought and other national challenges.
Dejene Kumela, USAID pure water supply and sanitation coordinator said that the project has given priority for 21 countries and Ethiopia is one. The project will be implemented in 10 Ethiopian cities such as Adama, Dire Dawa, Dessie, and Mekelle. These cities are chose as they are industry hubs that require huge amount of water.
Recently, the USAID has launched five year water and sanitation programme in Ethiopia. Up on completion, the project would make 500 people beneficiary. One of the strategic goals of the project is strengthening the capacity of 120 water and sanitation institutions.
In the nutshell, the resource mobilization stride should be appreciated. When they are translated in to action, with no doubt these projects will increase the number of population who can access pure water and sanitation. Keep going!
BY GIRMCHEW GASHAW
THE ETHIOPIAN HERALD WEDNESDAY 8 NOVEMBER 2023
