Assessing water supply coverage and water loss in distribution System of weliso town, south west shoa zone, oromia region, Ethiopia

Abstract

Water is the most important element for human survival and for all public services. But, problems in providing satisfactory water supply to the rapidly growing population especially that of the developing countries is increasing from time to time. Moreover, reduction of non-revenue water remains one of the major challenges facing many water utilities in Ethiopia in general and Weliso town water supply system in particular. The main objective of this study was assessing the water supply coverage of Weliso town and total water loss in the distribution system. Surveys, key informant interviews, and observation were used to collect needed data for the study. A random sampling technique was utilized and software such as WaterCADV8i, GIS map9.3 and SPSS were used to analyse the data. From the result of the analysis, it was observed that the average daily per capita water consumption of the town is 15.3l/p/d. Thus, nearly 76.5% of the entire town population is getting water less than the basic service level and the average in-house or yard connection of the town is 38%. The existing water supply was not meeting the water demand of the town. There was a supply gap about 56.6%. This was mainly due to water shortage at the source. Besides, the total annual volume of water loss of the town was increased from year to year (2010-2015) and loss at 2015 was 18.2% of total water production. The main causes of water loss were leakage and the under-capacity of operation and maintenance due to large area coverage to maintain on time. Aged pipe, late reporting for leakage, late respond for maintenance, pressure and defective meters were also other causes. To improve the water supply coverage, to reduce water loss from the distribution system and to meet the water demand of the town the recommended actions are: constructing of additional borehole, rehabilitation and replacement of aged pipes, operation and maintenance strategy, implementing active leakage control method, continuous meter repair and replacement, using proper sized pipes during the implementation of projects.