The Challenges and Prospects of Potable Water Mangement at Edja Woreda- Ethiopia

Table of Contents

CHAPTER ONE - INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background of the study
1.2 Statements of the problem
1.3 Objective of the study
1.4 Research questions
1.5 Scope of the study
1.6 Limitation of the study
1.7 Significance of the study
1.8 Organization of the Paper

CHAPTER TWO - LITRATURE REVIEW
2.1 Conceptualizing water management
2.1.1 Modalities of water service delivery
2.1.2 The tragedy of the commons
2.1.3 Good governance
2.2 Empirical literature review
2.2.1 The link between safe water supply and the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)
2.3 Summary of litrature review

CHAPTER THREE - METHODOLOGY
3.1 Theoretical framework
3.2 Conceptual framework
3.3 Operational definition of variables
3.4 Description of the study area
3.5 Research design
3.6 Methods of data collection
3.8 Sampling methods
3.9 Methods of data analysis
3.10 Ethical consideration

CHAPTER FOUR - RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
4.2 The role of potable water management actors
4.3 The networking status among major potable water actors
4.4 The status of potable water management in the Woreda
4.4.1 Supply capacity
4.4.2 Distributive Mechanisms
4.4.3 Distance
4.5 The challenges and prospects towards sustainability
4.5.1 Institutional mechanisms
4.5.2 Economical mechanisms
4.5.3 Social mechanisms
4.6 Solutions for the enhancement of better potable water management

CHAPTER FIVE - SUMMARY, CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
5.1 Summary of results
5.2 Conclusions
5.3 Recommendations

References

Annex-1. Survey questionnaire for potable water users

Annex-2. Interview checklist for potable water actors

Annex-3. The focus group discussion checklist

Annex-4. Time schedule of the study

Acronym

illustration not visible in this excerpt

List of tables

Table 1. The relationship between improved water and sanitation and MDGs

Table 2. The sample Frame of the research project

Table 3. Family size and the educational status of the respondent

Table 4. Age and Occupation of the respondent

Table 5. Potable water actors in the study area

Table 6. The role of Edja Woreda Water, Mineral, Energy Office

Table 7. The role of NGOs

Table 8. The role of Wash committee

Table 9. Responsible body of potable water scheme management

Table 10. Beneficiary participation in potable water resource development

Table 11. Means of participation on potable water resource development

Table 12. Responsiveness of potable water actors to the beneficiaries

Table13.Accountability of major potable water actors

Table 14. Level of networking among potable water actors in the Woreda

Table 15. The amounts of potable water the respondent use and can get

Table 16. The major challenges of potable water management

Table 17. The time traveled to collect potable water

Table 18. Availability of clear planning procedures

Table 19. Water fee payment status from the view of the respondent

Table 20. Payment of water fee and the availability of water misuse penalty system

Table 21. Responsible body for penalizing misuse or damage

Table 22. Water related training given for the potable water users

Table 23. Suggested solution for better potable water management

List of figures

Figure 1: Conceptual framework

Figure 2: Ages of the respondent

Figure 3: The time users take to collect potable water

Abstract

This study was motivated by the beliefs that analyze The Challenges and Prospects of Potable Water Management at Edja Woreda. Ethiopia in general and Edja Woreda in particular has lowest access to potable water services. The objectives of the study were; to describe the role of potable water actors and the networking status among them, the status of potable water management in terms of its supply capacity and distributive mechanisms, the institutional, economical and social mechanisms in place to contribute its sustainability and to generate suggested solution for potable water management problems. Mixed social science research was used for this study. The necessary data was collected through survey questionnaires; interview and FGD form potable water users, water actors’ officials and selected community members. Descriptive statistics like: graphing, frequency and percentage distribution was used for data analysis using SPSS version 13 software.

The study also reveals that the major potable water actors in the area are; WMEO that coordinates and manages over all water activities, WaSH committees that manage and monitor water scheme, NGOs and multilateral agencies that finance water activities. Water actors are both responsible and accountable to the users but needs them more improvement. Nevertheless, the networking status among them is good. The water management challenges in the area are; poor supply capacity and distributive mechanisms with problems like water interruption, limited supply capacity, and distances of water points. The study result also shows that the institutional, economical, social mechanisms are in place but lacks effectiveness to ensure sustainability. These results imply that there are some prospects of potable water management that needs more improvement.

Key Words; Potable water actors, Responsibility, Accountability, Institutional, Economical and

Social Mechanisms

Acknowledgments

First and foremost, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to my advisor Dr. Paul Mukasa (PhD) for his continuous and tireless professional guidance throughout the proposal development, questionnaire design, data collection and write up of the research project. He earns especial appreciation for the input he added on my work in the entire stage of thesis writing.

Besides, I owe my deepest thanks to Dr. Menhaj Alem for the invaluable comments and suggestions he has made for the study. He has played unreserved role in the proposal development stage of the study.

Moreover, I am sincerely grateful for the cooperation made to me by World Vision Ethiopia Guraghe Area Development Program staffs, Edja Woreda water, and Mineral and Energy Office officials for the invaluable support they made to me during the data collection stages of the study. It would have been difficult to complete data collection without their cooperation.

Furthermore, I would like to thank World Vision Ethiopia WaSH division for sponsoring the study; without which the completion of this study would not have been possible in such a successful way. Besides, I would like to thank the division for the proper arrangement of work time for the study.

Finally but most significantly, I would like to express my deepest thanks to my family and friends for their encouragement during the entire study time. I especially indebted to DME team of my colleagues for the empowering role they played for me during entire study time.

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

This chapter introduces the back ground of the study, the statements of the problem, objective of the study, research questions, and scope of the study, limitation of the study, significances of the study and organization of the paper.

1.1 Background of the study

About 97 percent of the earth’s water exists in ocean form which is salty and not used for drinking purpose unless treated costly. Only three percent of the earth’s water is fresh water. From the three percent, only 0.3 percent exists in accessible (river water, ponds and lakes) form since 99.7 of it exist in inaccessible form; such as ground water, glaciers and icecaps (Izquierdo et al., 2004).

On the other hand, “about 1.6 billion of the world populations live in areas of economic water scarcity where the unavailability of human, institutional and financial capital limits access to water; even though adequate unutilized water is in fact available to meet human needs” (Mwebaza, 2010, p. 5).

Furthermore, about 5,000 children die from preventable water related diseases every day on our planet (UNDP et al., n.d). Similarly, Potable water coverage in Sub-Saharan Africa remains below 60 percent of the population (UNICEF, n.d). Thus, more than 250,000 children die in Ethiopia each year because of poor sanitation and hygiene (UNDP and SNV, 2009).

Ethiopia is one of the nations blessed by water resource on the world having 12 major river basins and 12 large lakes. The annual surface water runoff is estimated to be 122 billion m3. Besides, the country has an estimated 2.6 billion m3 of usable ground water. On the other hand, Ethiopia has facing those challenges like the dynamics of population growth, low potable water access, low productivity, structural bottlenecks, dependence on unreliable rainfall and being land-locked which are all working against the country’s economic wellbeing. The addition of an estimated 2 million persons per year puts tremendous pressure on the country’s resource base, the economy and the ability to deliver social services (MoFED, 2005).

Thus, Ethiopia has the lowest access to potable water supply in Africa despite its abundant water resource (USAID, n.d). The national level access to safe water in Ethiopia is 68.5 percent of the total population with 91.5 percent and 65.8 percent for urban and rural potable water access respectively. The average safe water coverage in SNNPRS is 62% which is 90.9% and 58.7% in urban and rural areas respectively (ProAct, 2011).

In the Edja Woreda of Guraghe Zone, there are 32 on spot springs; two hands dug wells and one water supply system by gravity called Fessa water supply which makes up the water supply of the Woreda 43% of the total population.

1.2 Statements of the problem

Potable water is the water delivered to the consumer that can be safely used for drinking, cooking and washing (De Zuene, 1997). In the Edja Woreda of Guraghe Zone, the average distance travelled to collect water is 46 minutes. On the other hand, the average water consumption is 7.2 liter/day per person for only 48 percent of the population while the remaining 52 percent consumes less than 7.2 liter/day/person. These figures are far below the average daily water consumptions of 45 litter/person per day set by WHO and the 20 litter/person per day of Millennium Development Goal of universal access program (ITAB Consult, 2011).

Water born diseases are common in the Woreda especially those affecting children. Even in some area of the Woreda where water schemes are available, the utilization of potable water schemes creates wastage and unsustainable. One of the major potable water related problems in the Woreda is maintenance of water schemes . The need for maintenance report lags behind expected in case of scheme damage. Water fee collection in the Woreda is also ineffective . There is no clear responsible actor in maintaining water schemes. Hence existing WaSH actors such as; institutions, legal frameworks, and policies are in question to ensure the sustainability of expanding access to drinking water while preserving environment. There is poor integration among actors to solve water related problems (WVE, 2011).

The financial sustainability of the drinking water sector in the Woreda remains an issue for all stakeholders: the providers, the users, government agencies and donors. There is no clear guidance for water activities at Woreda level. Thus, there are no clearly specified roles and responsibilities. Even if access to water and water education is provided to the residents of the study area, practical usage of water lag far behind the universal millennium development target in the Edja Woreda (WVE, 2006). The global drinking water crisis is mainly rooted in poverty, power and inequality, not in physical availability. It is, first and foremost, a crisis of governance (Harris et al., 2011). Based on these facts, the study tries its best to explore whether management gap that halted the expected progress on the potable water services delivery in the study area.

1.3 Objective of the study

The general objective of the study is to identify the challenges and prospects of potable water management in terms its supply capacity and distributive mechanism in the Edja Woreda with the following specific objectives;

1. To analyze the role of potable water management actors (Woreda Water, Mineral and Energy Office, NGOs, WaSH Committee and the beneficiaries) in the study area in terms of responsiveness and accountability.
2. To analyze the networking status between major potable water actors (Woreda Water, Mineral and Energy Office, NGOs, WaSH Committee and the beneficiaries) in Edja Woreda.
3. To analyze the status of potable water management in Edja Woreda in terms of supply capacity and its distributive mechanism.
4. To assess the challenges and prospects of institutional, economical and social mechanisms in place to contribute the sustainability of potable water supply in Edja Woreda.
5. To generate suggested solutions for the enhancement of better potable water management in Edja Woreda.

1.4 Research questions

The study endeavors to explore the prospects and challenges of potable water management in Edja Woreda by answering the following questions;

1. What is the role of potable water management actors (Woreda Water, Mineral and Energy Office, NGOs, WaSH Committee and the beneficiaries) in the study area in terms of responsiveness and accountability?
2. What is the networking status between major potable water management actors (Woreda Water, Mineral and Energy Office, NGOs, WaSH Committee and the beneficiaries) in Edja Woreda ?
3. What are the status of potable water management in Edja Woreda in terms of water supply capacity and its distributive mechanism?
4. What are the challenges and prospects of institutional, economical and social mechanisms in place to contribute the sustainability of potable water supply in Edja Woreda ?
5. What are the possible solutions for the enhancement of better potable water management in Edja Woreda?

1.5 Scope of the study

Edja Woreda of Guraghe Zone has 28 Kebele administrations which cover an area of 767 km2 in which more than 84 thousand people dwell. Due to the cost and time limit constraints to conduct the study in the whole Kebeles of the Woreda with proper sample size, this research is limited to the study of potable water management in selected six sample Kebeles in the Woreda. Thus, the study result does not reflect the entire Guraghe Zone potable water management situation. On the other hand, the word management is a broad term by itself that the study only reflects facts about the challenges and prospects of potable water management in the study area. Besides, Potable water is the water delivered to the consumer that can be safely used for drinking, cooking and washing that the study is limited to this definition of potable water. Thus, the study is limited to the challenge and prospects of potable water (water scheme and water supply) management in the study area in terms of; water supply capacity and its distributive mechanism, role of potable water management actors and the status of networking among them.

Furthermore, this study is also limited to assess the status of institutional mechanism (water regulatory bodies, management arrangement, planning procedures), economical mechanism (water pricing, charging and water related penalties) and social mechanisms (measures to increase awareness of water issues and mobilizes users to participate in planning, management and financing of water resource development) in place to ensure sustainability.

1.6 Limitation of the study

Most of the residents of Edja Woreda are rural dwellers and live in scattered areas. Hence, it is difficult for the researcher to deal with all respondents and they are to be contacted by enumerators. Since the respondents are not well aware about the research, they were unable to give appropriate information to data collector unless they are convinced very well. Since everyone have his/her own daily business, getting the right respondent with sufficient time may create difficulty in the process of data collection. To avoid these limitations and other unforeseen obstacles, training was given to data enumerators beforehand which help them to extract sufficient information for the study.

1.7 Significance of the study

Most of the structural bottlenecks of developing countries are interpreted with financial capacity and physical constraints. However, the issue of management matter most in having quality water services. Thus, the study result plays great role in finding alternative solutions for the improvement of water management in the study area. The study can also benefit the community of the study area in identifying those problems that hinder the efficiency and sustainability of water program. The finding can also be used as additional reference for government officials and NGOs that are working on water program in providing them additional knowledge about potable water management.

1.8 Organization of the Paper

The research project is organized in such a way that the first part of the paper highlights the background of the study, the statement of the problem, objectives of the study, scope and delimitation of the study. Chapter two addresses some empirical evidences about the subject under study. Chapter three deals with the study methodology while chapter four broadly explains about the finding of the study. Finally, chapter five summarizes the finding and draws some helpful recommendations on potable water management.

CHAPTER TWO

LITRATURE REVIEW

In this chapter the concept of water potable water management term and the basic water supply were defined. Besides, secondary documents about the potable water management was reviewed and interpreted with the finding of the research in the analysis part of the study. Finally, the contribution of potable water supply for the MDGs was summarized and conclusion was made for the entire literature review.

2.1 Conceptualizing water management

The basic water supply is defined as the provision of effective water use as well as a minimum quantity of 25 liters of potable water per person per day (or 6 000 liters per household per month) within 200 meters of a household, which is not interrupted for more than seven days in any year; and with a minimum flow of 10 liters per minute in the case of communal water points. Potable water is defined as drinking water that does not impose a health risk (Khambule, 2002).

Potable Water management is the activity of planning, developing, distributing and managing the optimum use of drinking water resources. In an ideal world, water management has regarded to all the competing demands for water and seeks to allocate water on an equitable basis to satisfy all uses and demands. Potable water supply services means the concept from a water resource, transportation, treatment, storage and distribution of potable water, water intended to be converted to potable water and water for industrial or other use, where such water is provided by or on behalf of a water services authority, to consumers or other water services providers (GWP et al., 2008).

2.1.1 Modalities of water service delivery

There are five basic modalities of potable water management service delivery; namely: public provision (when the central or local government directly provide water services), private provision (when private company provide water services and charge clients), community based provision (when local community provide their own water services), public private partnership (when both public and private entities jointly provide water services) and multi stakeholder provision implies when a number of actors recognize their common water management problems and realize the value of their collective to solve those problems. Thus, in case of multi stakeholder water services provision is made through multi stakeholders (Miranda et al., 2011).

2.1.2 The tragedy of the commons

Human beings are constantly making use of goods, natural resources, and spaces for consumption and waste disposal. The use of these goods, resources and space are also available to other users in many cases. However, the rational individual concludes that the benefits of the common can be enjoyed, without causing any more than the slightest damage to it. This rational individual conclusion and action is viewed by Garrett Hardin as the “the tragedy of the commons” (Christensen, 2005).

According to Hardin (1968), the tragedy comes as the usage of each common go beyond the optimal usage level. Hardin also applied his view to the situation created by pollution and quoted as “The rational man finds that his share of the cost of the wastes he discharges into the commons is less than the cost of purifying his wastes before releasing them. Since this is true for everyone, we are locked into a system of “fouling our own nest,” so long as we behave only as independent, rational, free-enterprisers” (Hardin, 1968, p. 1245).

A common-pool resource like lake or ocean, irrigation system, forest, internet, the atmosphere, are natural or man-made resources from which it is difficult to limit or exclude once the resource is available for users. Accordingly, when a person consumes units of these resources, he/she remove those units available to others. This fact is applicable to both renewable natural common pool resources and man-made common pool resources. when a unit of common pool resources have high value with the absence of institutional restrict to limit the way resource units are appropriated, individuals get strong incentives to appropriate more and more resource units leading to congestion, overuse, and even the destruction of the resource itself. Thus, the free-rider problem is a potential threat to efforts that reduce appropriation and improve the long-term outcomes achieved from the use of the common pool resources (Ostrom, 1999).

2.1.3 Good governance

In the 1990s, the term governance has attracted multilateral agencies like World Bank from the concern of the sustainability of projects financed by those agencies. The term governance particularly good governance which is characterized by different elements that are pointed out by different institutions based up on their own perception highly correlated with the notion of sustainable development (IFAD, 1999).

The former UN secretary general, Kofi Annan, has also bolded the importance of Good governance in achieving the eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by quoting as “Good governance is perhaps the single most important factor in eradicating poverty and promoting development” (Abdellatif, 2003).

Good governance comprises the existences of effective mechanisms, processes and institutions that enable citizens and groups to articulate their interest, exercise their legal right, meet their obligations and mediate their differences. Good governance is characterized by those elements such as: participation, rule of low, transparency, responsiveness, and consensus orientation, equity, efficiency, effectiveness, and accountability, coherent and integrative (Rogers and W. Hall, 2003).

2.2 Empirical literature review

The global burden of the inadequate access of safe water falls primarily on the poorest of the poor. There are four universal barriers that hinder the progress of safe water services supply. These are: 1) inadequate investment in potable water infrastructures, 2) Lack of political will 3) difficulty in acceptance of new technological approaches and 4) failure to conduct evaluations of water interventions. Equity and financial sustainability have good link with one another. Water services needs user fees and inputs from beneficiaries for its sustainability in the form of water fees or contribution of time and money to initial project establishment. It helps in such a way that services are adequately valued, maintenance is provided, overuse of scarce resources is avoided, and limited external resources can be prolonged as much as practical (L. Moe, 2006).

While the world is working toward the achievement of MDG target of safe water supply, there are still major gaps in many regions and countries especially in Sub-Saharan Africa. This is mainly due to poverty, inequality, and lack of physical availability which is all the subsets of mismanagement. Thus, good potable water management is a key pillar of effective and efficient water service provision (UNDP et al., n.d).

The current deficiancy of potable water access in many develping countries is global fact. Developing countries are also adimited that they cannot solve their deep rooted potable water problems working alone and their governance system must permit all stakeholders to actively engage and solve the growing potable water problems. The current potable water crisis requires nations to put their governance systems in order; since sustainability and development are inseparable under present global conditions. More effective management systems need to be created to overcome government failure, market failure and system failure or a combination of these (Rogers and W. Hall, 2003).

The effort to decrease the numbers of people that lack adequate access to safe water in Africa in general and in Sub-Saharan Africa in particular has proved to be significant challenges. Hence, the region is lagging behind the universal target of MDGs that aim to half the proportion of people that has no safe water access by the year 2015 (ADP et al., 2006).

African counries are remain charcterized by poor quality and lack of availabilities of basic infrustructures like; electricity, water and sanitation, and roads are well below other regions. Water service provision in Africa is known by its inefficiency and the lack of pricing mechanisms to determine consumer demand and to reflect service costs (GWP et al., 2008).

Africa is unlikely to reach the MDG target of achieving universal drinking potable water services by the 2015. Serious reforms in institutions, legal frameworks, and policies are needed in order to ensure the sustainability of expanding access to drinking potable water while preserving environment to achieve MDG target in potable water supply (Kauffmann, 2007).

Decentralization should be made in many developing nations to solve potable water crises along with necessary financial resources and human capacity development at local level through clear demarcation of roles and responsibilities. All stakeholders, from communities to regional partners, should participate in the management of water resources to improve efficiency and avoid conflict. Community level involvement is also important to overcome local environment and development confilicts, property rights, equity and litracy issues while the participation of local government, non traditional palyers, and water oriented civil societies are also vital through strengthening local water committee and creating efficient and effective public water resource management (WSP, n.d).

Ethiopia’s potable water statistics have been considered among the lowest in the world in terms of access, distance and quality. On the other hand, Ethiopia has one of the countries that have made significant progress toward the achievement of MDGs target of potable water through radical program reform and decentralization. In the year 2005, the government of Ethiopia has launched a water and sanitation plan that aimed to achieve 100% water and sanitation access throughout the country by the year 2012 (WB et al., 2009).

The institutional frame work of Potable water in Ethiopia includes: Ministry of Water Resources, Ministry of Health, the Regional Water Bureaus, Regional Health Bureaus, Woreda Water Desks, and the Ethiopian Social Rehabilitation and Development Fund (ESRDF), private sector in the form of contractors and consultants, equipment and spare parts suppliers, and water vendors, artisans, communities with support from NGOs and donors (ADB, 2005).

Safe water supply access in Ethiopia is supported by dozens of donors and hundreds of NGOs each working by their own criteria and procedures. To tackle this donor fragmentation, the government has established a multi stakeholder forum that includes donors, NGOs and Civil Society Organizations (CSO). The government has also developing computerized monitoring and evaluation program for water supply, sanitation and hygiene program consultancy services in order to solve data handling problems (UNDP and SNV, 2009).

Edja Woreda has great challenges of maintenance systems in place that result in inadequate services (43% of the total population). Most of health institutions and schools in the area have no water supply system and hand washing facilities. Besides, the community of the area has low level of understanding and awareness on knowledge, attitude and practices of potable water (ITAB Consult, 2011).

Potable water management in the study area is undertaken by Edja Woreda Water, Mineral and Energy Offices. Water system in the study area is managed by water, sanitation and hygiene committee with the close consultation of wareda Water, Mineral and Energy Office. The community participates in potable water programs/projects in site selection, providing labor and local materials. Other WaSH actors of the area includes: Kale Hiwot Church, UNICEF, WB, and WVE (Ibid).

2.2.1 The link between safe water supply and the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)

MDGs are internationally agreed targeted goals to tackle some of the major development challenges within the time range of 15 years. It comprises eight major goals namely: 1) Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger, 2) Achieve universal primary education, 3) Promote gender equality and empower women, 4) Reduce child mortality, 5) Improve maternal health, 6) Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria, and other diseases, 7) Ensure environmental sustainability, 8) Develop a global partnership for development. Each of these goals has different set targets that directly contribute for the achievement of that goal (Rao, 2006).

Potable water supply is an integral aspect of achieving almost all the Millennium development Goals (MDGs). Access to safe water has strong correlation with the MDGs of number: 1, 3, 4, 5 and 6 (UNU, n.d). The use of unsafe increases child mortality; endanger maternal health; prevents children from going to school due to water born diseases; and worsens poverty. Clean water is a proven cost-effective investment that was reduces health budget spending and increases economic productivity and education levels (UNDP et al., n.d).

The relationship between improved water and the mellienium development goals is briefly summarized in table 1. below.

Table 1. The relationship between Potable water and MDGs

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