2.5.2 Water supply and convenienceEverybody wants water as close as possible to his home, simply because it is more convenient.
Thus, convenience is an important consideration as health benefits. In some societies and situations, convenience is also related to the security of women, which is water supply closer to home can minimize the risk of abduction, rape and assault. Besides, when girls are forced to carry heavy loads of water over long distances, there is a danger of lasting spinal column and pelvis injury and deformations. Thus, closer water sources minimize these problems (UNICEF,1999).2.5.3 Water supply and energy savedStudies have shown that women who walk long distances to collect water can burn as much as 600 calories of energy or more per day, which may be one third of their nutritional intake.
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Closer sources of water can thus improve the nutritional status of women and children and this in turn improves their health and wellbeing. The time saved is used for other productive economic and social activities. (UNICEF, 1999). 2.6 Impacts of water supply inaccessibilityAlthough water is the primary needs of human being, unimproved water services have many negative impacts on people livelihood. Among which; health, socio-economic, environmental degradation and poor educational performance are the major.
2.6.1. Health impactsThe improvement of water in developing countries is largely driven by the need to reduce the incidence and prevalence of infectious disease caused by pathogenic micro organisms. The majority of pathogens that affect humans are derived from faeces and transmitted by the faecal-oral route. Pathogen transmission may occur through a variety of routes including food, water, poor personal hygiene and flies (Ahmed and Nalubega, 2001).
According to USAID/E Statement of Work (SOW) for the Millennium Water Alliance (MWA) Water, Sanitation & Hygiene (WASH) program evaluation, “approximately 3.1% of deaths worldwide are attributed to unsafe water, sanitation and hygiene practices. Africa carries the heaviest burden, with 4 to 8% of all disease in Africa being related to poor water. In Ethiopia, water related diarrhea accounts for approximately 20% of all deaths in children under the age of five, taking the lives of close to 100,000 children annually USAID/E (2008).2.
6.2. Socio-economic impactsPoor access to water supply limits opportunities to escape poverty and exacerbates the problems of vulnerable and marginalized groups especially those affected by HIV/AIDS and other diseases (Alaci and Alehegn, 2009).According to Ethiopian Ministry of Health (2005), the well known negative synergy of diarrhoeal disease, malnutrition and opportunistic infections are known to have short-term health impacts and long term debilitating effects. In the long term, child development is impaired resulting in growth retardation and diminished learning abilities. It is estimated that 4 in 10 children will not realise their educational potential which ultimately inhibits socio-economic development. In addition there is a potential productive time lost to illness caring for the sick and attending clinics.
There are also the financial costs of treatment for medicines and clinic attendance.2.6.3. Environmental degradation impactsBesides being pollutants of surface waters (necessitating higher treatment costs), faeces and urine are a potential (under-exploited) source of compost and fertilizer which could help address decreasing soil fertility and reduce the high cost (both financial and environmental) of chemical fertilizers. They can also be used to produce biogas (a renewable energy source) which as well as safely containing excreta could contribute to reducing deforestation which is a key environmental issue. Biogas digesters can also be ‘fed’ with organic solid waste in urban areas as an efficient treatment and use of ‘waste’ (MoH, 2005).
2.7 Urban water supply and distribution in Ethiopia The water supply and sanitation sector in Ethiopia is one of the developing countries and is mostly characterized by service deficiency of physical infrastructure as well as by inadequate management capacity to handle policy and regulatory issue and to plan, operate, and maintain the service. Ethiopia has one of the highest urbanization growth rates in the developing countries. According to data obtained from the Central Statistical Agency, the country’s urban population was growing at 4.8 per cent per annum between the 1995 and 2000. The urban population in Ethiopia in 1984, the first census period, was 4.
3 million forming 11 per cent of the total population. In 1994, the second census period, the urban population was 7.4 million.
Total urban population had increased by 12per cent from that of 1984. In terms of urban centers, in 1984, Ethiopia had 312 urban centers with population of over 2000. In 1994, the second census period, the urban centers in the country grew to 534 registering an increase of 71 per cent over that of 1984 though the definitions of the two censuses are not the same (Tegegne, 2000). The rapid growth of urban population has placed tremendous pressure on the management capacity of municipalities for service delivery and local economic development. This phenomenal growth has also burdened many municipalities with the problems of inadequate housing, poverty and unemployment, inadequate water and electricity supply, and poor sanitation systems.
Available data also indicate that in the next 25 years (1994-2020), nearly 30 % of Ethiopia population will live in cities. Regarding this, rapid urban population growth will inevitably call for huge investments in housing, urban infrastructure, water and electricity supply, sanitation systems and environmental protection programs and programs to alleviate poverty and unemployment in the cities. This implies that the challenge will require well trained municipal management and resource capacity, responsive urban governance and well trained and motivated personnel and sustaining services such as water, electricity supply, local revenue collection and administration to meet the ever growing demand for better and more quality services and infrastructures of Urban Population Projection for Ethiopia1995-2020 (Tegegne, 2000).
In addition to this, the World Bank Group (2005) mentioned that the demand for differentiated technologies-piped water supply the core, alternative technologies in the fringe areas- and the often rapid unpredictable water demand and spatial growth require planning, design, and management skills that exceed community based management approaches. But unlike larger towns or cities, these smaller towns often lack the financial and human resources to independently plan, finance, manage and operate their WSS systems. This implies that a key challenge for town WSS is to allocate limited government resources amongst a large number of dispersed towns. There are also variations across urban areas. The aforementioned information indicates that as a result of low level of development a significant proportion of the total urban population of Ethiopia in particular and total population of Ethiopia in general have no access to safe and adequate potable water supply.
They still restrict themselves to use what nature has provided them with in the form of springs, rivers, lakes, ponds, traditional hand dug wells and rain water which are often unsafe, cause health hazards and are at considerable distance from households. Among the main reasons given for the slow pace of progress in water supply services in Ethiopia, the following are net worthy: lack of comprehensive legislation; inadequate investment resources; lack of a national water tariff policy and the absence of beneficiary participation and community management (Dessalegn, 1999). In relation to this, MoWR (2002) stated that issues of poor sector capacity and low level of expenditures for WSS are interlinked and lead to a vicious circle – as low level of investments create low demand for technical and manpower inputs in WSS sector, the capacity remains underdeveloped. The resulting low sector capacity, means low allocations and expenditures are curtailed. The sustainability of water supply facilities mainly depends on a timely and regular maintenance and operation of the system. However, in most developing countries, including Ethiopia, it has been found out that operation and maintenance (O;M) of water supply facilities is in a poor state of condition and the sustainability of the scheme is at stake.
Regarding this, MoWR (2002) identified the following underlying problems: • Inappropriate tariff setting without emphasis on full cost recovery; • Lack of clear guidelines for urban tariff setting including issues related to fairness, and financial sustainability; • Inappropriate or lack of institutional incentives for urban WSPs to achieve financial viability and improved operational performance; • Poor technical and financial capacity among the urban service providers that leads to high levels of Unaccounted For Water (UFW); and • Poor or non- existent consumer services and grievance handling system that leads to a lack of willing to pay user charges. 2.7.
1. Water sector policy, goals and strategies The overall goals of the Federal Water Resources Management Policy (1999) and the Water Sector Strategy (2001) are to promote national efforts towards efficient, equitable and optimum utilization of the available water resources of Ethiopia in order to achieve significant socio-economic development on sustainable bases of the country. Some of the major principles of the policy are: – a) devolving ownership to lower tiers and enhancing management autonomy to the lowest possible level; b) promoting involvement of all stakeholders, including the private sector; c) moving towards full cost recovery for urban water supply systems and recovery of operational and maintenance costs for rural schemes; and, d) enhancing urban water supply and distribution through autonomous bodies (Assefa, 2009). A five-year Water Sector Development Program (WSDP) is in place.
The Universal Access Program (UAP) for Water Supply and Sanitation Services (WSSS), 2006-2012) was developed by the Ministry of Water Resources in consultation with the regions. The UAP to achieve 97% coverage of water supply in the rural areas and full sanitation coverage by (2012). In terms of the urban areas the coverage is expected to increase from 80 percent water supply and 51 percent sanitation to 100 % at the end of the planned year for both water supply and sanitation.
The government has planned to provide the stated water supply through 1181 deep wall, 224 shallow well, 1143 streams and 1468 harassing rivers (UAP, 2005). Besides, the federal democratic republic of Ethiopia has adopted a national water resources management policy, a water supply and sanitation strategy and water sector development program, setting sub sectoral objectives on water supply and sanitation, irrigation and hydropower. The overall objective of water supply and sanitation policy is to enhance the well-being and productivity of the Ethiopia people through provision of adequate, reliable and clean water supply and sanitation services and to foster its tangible contribution to the economy by providing water supply services that meet the livestock, industry and other water users? demand (Meron, 2012). Therefore, according to this policy, all water supply institutional setups have legal right to implement the integrated water supply and sanitation policy.
In addition to these, since the establishment of a Ministry for a water sector in 1995/96, a strategic and participatory approach has been introduced by bringing into place key sector reform initiatives. The National Water Resources Management Policy also requires urban centers to cover their investment, operation and maintenance costs, while rural water supply service is required to cover operation and maintenance costs, with some cost sharing (up to 10%) for initial investment cost. (MoWR, 2003).
Furthermore, as stressed to this the policy (MoWR, 2002) for increasing the coverage as the proper use and sustainability of the service requires implementation of a cost recovery system, which can be either full or partial cost recovery. That is, in order to implement the existing policy for the provision of water supply in urban areas of the country fairness of the tariff, willingness to pay for the service and efficient management of the resources of the utility office need to be examined. In related to this, within the decentralization framework in Ethiopia, different responsibilities are emerging for different levels of government: policy and strategy development, project implementation and monitoring and evaluation.
2.8 Theoretical FrameworkAccording to the theory of planning and building cities, urban planning is governed by social structure, level of development of productive forces, science and culture, natural and climatic conditions, and a country’s national characteristics. This theory has been developed by planners based on Theoretical schools of urban planning, such as de-urbanism (related to the late 19th-century concept of the garden city) and urbanism (the designs of Le Cor-busier, the leader of the school in the 19th century). Urban planning encompasses a complex network of socioeconomic, architectural and decorative, water and sanitation problems. The general rule for urban planning involved to some degree the influence of private ownership of real estate and land. The inequality of property distribution was reflected in the methods of planning and construction and in the organization of public services of urban territory.
Ruling-class districts, created on the basis of the best contemporary urban planning achievements were drastically different from the overcrowded working-class areas, which lacked essential public amenities such as water and sanitation. There are presently two social orders in the world—socialism and capitalism—which determine two ways of developing urban planning. Under capitalism the interests of landowners, industrialists, and financiers usually lead to the haphazard construction of population centers that contradict the goals of urban planning. Under socialism the state planning of the national economy creates all the conditions needed for the systematic, scientifically based development of the kinds of cities most suitable for the work, daily life, and relaxation of the entire population (Beriha, 2013).The theory and practice of urban planning accomplishes two tasks: the reconstruction and development of old cities and the construction of new cities. It proposes zoning of urban territory to be carried out in order to create the most beneficial living conditions for the population and to facilitate the functioning of the city as a whole. Urban planning decisions should be made with due regard for the development of industrial, residential, and recreation areas and for satisfying the requirements of sanitary engineering (for example, in water and air purity, and soundproofing).
These proposals can be applied to as well solve the challenges of water supply and distribution problems in Sodo town.2.2.
1 Coupled Human and Natural Systems TheoryHuman and natural system dynamics are tightly coupled in the urban environment, as human behaviors and resource demands act as both drivers and constraints of natural ecosystem function. Urban water demand represents a coupled human and natural system, characterized by complex interactions between human and natural system variables at multiple spatial and temporal scales. In urban environments, scale mismatches can be particularly pronounced because the scales of social organization and governance structures are often not correctly aligned with the scales of ecological dynamics. In the context of water resource management, human and natural scale mismatches can impose substantial unanticipated costs to water utilities if demand is incorrectly estimated. Stochastic events, such as drought or flood, can have dire consequences for communities if local governance is unprepared or under resourced to respond to larger-scale climate processes. Local-scale processes in both human and natural systems are significant drivers of change, contributing to large-scale patterns of water demand. The amount of water used at the household scale, for example, is influenced by several factors: the norms and values of the individual users, the household’s ownership of water-consuming appliances, individual lawn and garden preferences, and their personal investment in conservation (Wentz and Gober,2007).
Governance structures exist at multiple scales, from the neighborhood to the city to the region, and can influence water consumption decisions. The direction of change, however, depends on the policy and institutional systems. For example, at the neighborhood scale, the presence of a homeowner association has been positively correlated to an increase in water consumption because of mandatory lawn maintenance policies (Harlan, 2009). However, municipal-scale incentives can be offered to assist in reducing residential and business sector water consumption, for example, to assist in replacing outdated appliances and installing low-flow faucets and showerheads and efficient lawn irrigation technologies (Hilaire etal, 2008). These small shifts in individual household behavior can cumulate into large changes, either increases or decreases, in city-scale water demand.
However, such multi scale analysis of water consumption using a framework of coupled social and ecological systems has not yet been carried out.2.9 Conceptual Framework Water is the indispensable resource for life.
It is also a scarce resource both in quantity and quality, and when available it is often of poor quality depending on location. Lack of potable water and basic sanitation services remains one of the world’s most urgent health issues. It is estimated that 1.1 billion people in developing countries do not have access to safe drinking water and 2.6 billion people lack access to basic sanitation (UNDP, 2006; SIDA, 2004; UNICEF and WHO, 2005). In a broader sense, water resource management as a concept may outline a framework for numerous water related decisions.
Given the fact that socio-economic development processes relate to the water resource, owing to interact with water and human activities.Water supply challenges can be viewed in terms of policy relevant questions for instance; how much resources are available and who needs it? Who gets how much? (IDRC, 2002). In connection to this more pressing questions need to be addressed: who decides? By what procedures? What features of governance will most likely produce management decisions that are fair, equitable and environmentally sustainable? The aim of my this conceptual framework is to address issues of urban water supply and access challenges, inaccessibility of some areas in provision of water services, demographic pressure on water management, infrastructure problems among others. This informs the conceptual frame below.
