Abstract:
Water is fundamental for life and health. It is the basic need for human being welfare. However,
sustainability of the water supplies is the current key challenge of developing countries, both in
terms of the water sources and service delivery. The problem is worst in sub-Saharan Africa and
Ethiopia in particular where getting safe potable water supplies and sanitation services is very
low. Recently, while both governmental and non-governmental organizations have been
implementing different water supply and sanitation projects in different parts of the country, only
a portion of these schemes continue to provide water sustainably. The efforts made to improve
and expand access for drinking water still was unable to completely alleviate all in all the rural
communities suffer of potable water supply. Thus, the main aim of this study was to assess the
challenges in the design and construction of rural water supply projects and to assess the
functionality and service level of the water supply systems in the rural areas of Wuchale Woreda
of Oromia Region. Both primary and secondary data was collected with structured and approved
questioner. A systematic sampling technique was employed as the major methods of sampling
for the selection of sample schemes (water points) and kebeles. The most common challenge of
the water supply projects in the design of the schemes were, lack of considering appropriate
information. Especially constructing the rural water supply points without checking the water
yield of the schemes, untimely construction and development of the springs, and most of the
experts were not volunteer to select sites with the help of the community rather they made
independently. Therefore, a full exchange of information between the action agency and the
community during all rural water supply project phases was found to be very important for
successful water system development and to feel the real ownership of the schemes.
In general, the findings on assessment of challenges for design and construction of rural water
supply projects in the study area reflect a critical situation. Therefore, it is important to establish
a design and construction standards (methods) depending on the reality of the Woreda.
