Abstract:
Safe drinking water is one of the basic necessities for human beings. However, billions of people
in the world have not access to it today. Of this, significant number of the population is from the
developing countries especially in sub Saharan countries. A loss in water distribution system is
an important issue which can affect water companies and their consumers worldwide. Water
losses is categorized apparent loss and real loss and it can be caused by various influences,
especially on the pipe networks and are an essential part of the maintenance strategy for existing
water distribution networks. The main objective of this study is to estimate the water supply
coverage of Nekemte city and the total water loss in distribution system. Water production that is
only for the city and the water consumption as aggregated from individual customer meter
reading was used to evaluate the total water loss at the city level. Data was gathered using
observation, questionnaires, structural interview and the probability sampling technique was
adopted in selecting the sample from the population. The systematic sampling techniques
conducted to the local communities, consultants, Nekemte Water Supply and sewerage service
enterprise and from local Administrative. The result indicates that the city water supply coverage
is 48.21%.Out of the total water production 3,050,269.97 Cubic meter per year 1,305,636.97
Cubic meter was considered as loss. This implies 42.69% out of the production was loss before
reaching the consumer by different cause specially loss due to pressure and age of pipe. The
distribution system model was used to evaluate two alternative scenarios to improve system
performance. The objective of the first scenario was to increase the flow rate at taps of low
supply by managing pressure and the second scenario aimed at adding taps to parts of the subsystem without easy access to running water. The first scenario was consisted extended period
simulation to increase the flow rate at taps of low supply. This scenario was recommended for
some parts of the city. The second scenario was hardly recommended to satisfy the community
who did not get distribution network still.
