Sustainability Issue Of Rural Water Supply Schemes: Case Study In Shashemenne Area Of West Arsi Zone

Abstract

Great effort has been put forth to increase the number of people with access to safe water supply, adequate sanitation and hygiene in the developing world. Access to safe drinking water supplies, sanitation services and the sustainability of rural water supplies in Ethiopia are among the lowest in Sub-Saharan Africa. In addition a number of newly constructed schemes fail to function soon after handed over to the community for use and thus, holding back coverage from meeting target plans. This research therefore aims to assess the technical and management factors that affect the sustainability of rural water supply schemes in Shashemanne District, West Arsi Zone. Furthermore, it deals with the institutional, financial, technological and technical factors impacting sustainability of the schemes, deals with the sustainability analysis for the representative sample of rural water supply scheme and issues for best practice guidelines for development practitioners to bring about improved sustainability of the schemes. Both qualitative and quantitative data were collected besides; reviews of archived document were carried out. A documentation review was carried out for all available documents regarding water scheme plans implementation as well as for monitoring and evaluation. Additional information to supplement the documentation review and to obtain a deeper understanding of the issues was collected through interviews and discussions conducted with those considered the main stakeholders. Accordingly, data collection activities were then divided into community (scheme) and District levels. At community level, FGDs for WASHCO and residents in each user community; WASHCO resource mapping; and key informant interviews and KAP surveys were conducted. At District level, institutional resource mapping; institutional mapping/analysis; and interviews and KAP surveys of the DWMEO were carried out. Findings show that the District is currently accessed with 30 deep and shallow wells with distribution, 5 springs with distribution network, 21 springs on spot 20 hand dug wells fitted with hand pump and 120 water points. The District water coverage is found to be 86% at the year of 2015. In the study area, there is a high rate of scheme failure, with approximately 34% of schemes not in use. When scheme breakdowns occur, the speed of maintenance is slow. Maintenance on minor breakdowns is performed within 2 weeks, where as major breakdowns take a minimum of 2 month, at an average of 6 months. The time taken to fetch water10 min to 5h (roundtrip), with an average of 2h and 15 min; which exceeded WHO and UAP recommended at 30 min of walking time for a roundtrip, equivalent to a distance of about 1km and 1.5km radius respectively. Queuing time varies from season to season. The average roundtrip including waiting time was found to be 5h in the dry season and 2h in the wet season. The average per capita per day water used found to be 10l Generally, the findings on sustainability and service levels in Shashemane district reflect a critical situation. Poor scheme management, poor design and construction quality, poor status of O and M, feeble links between participatory planning, governance and scheme sustainability. The reliability of the sources is questionable owing to recurrent drought, annual rain fall drop and ground water depletion. Enhance rehabilitation and maintenance of non-functional schemes, Strict follow-up and supervision during the design and implementation of newly constructed schemes, conserving the natural resources in order to minimize the groundwater depletion and monitoring the quality of water supply sources, insure the sustainability of water supply schemes.