Factors Affecting Sustainability of Rural Water Supply Schemes in Basso Liben Woreda, Amhara Region
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Date
2009-06
Authors
Getinet, aklilu
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Journal ISSN
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Publisher
Addis Ababa University
Abstract
Sustainable access to safe and adequate WS in the rural areas of Basso Liben
woreda is very marginal. Efforts made so far towards ame liorating the situation
are threatened by system failures to provide service as intended. Hence, this
study has attempted to identify factors that affect sustainability of WSSs in the
study area. To this end, a cross-sectional descriptive study was conducted in 3
selected kebeles using a pre-tested structured questionnaire in a total of 101
household beneficiaries chosen by simple random sampling from six water points.
Data was also obtained from 12 FGDs and 23 physical site observations. Both
quantitative and qualitative methods of data analysis were employed. In due
course, the study revealed the following results. First, in the rural settings of
Basso Liben woreda traditional sources are found to be the main source of
drinking water. The total time, 24.6 minutes, required for water collection and
10.71 lite rs of water per capita consumption was also different from the WHO
standards. More than 35. 5% of developed water points we re not functional and
87.1 % of the respondents have experienced non functionality problem since the
schemes get underway. Second, 97. 0% of the surveyed households didn't have
demand for improved WS prior to construction, 88.2% didn't participate
satisfactorily during the planning phase and the involvement women at any stage
of the WSD was very limited. Besides, the water committees were not capable of
managing the system properly and communities have weak or no sense of
ownership to the developed water supply facilities. Specifically, conflict among
members of the committee and lacle of transparency, accountability and
commitment are the major indicators to problems related with local water
management board that affect sustain ability of the s ystem .Lack of adequate
training and follow up from implementing agencies, lack of power to enforce
rules, lacle of incentives, and absence of working manuals are also identified as
major problems that cons trained the water committees from managing their
schemes properly. Third, all capital costs are covered by implementing agencies
and the user fee required for operation and maintenance has not been collected.
In the study area, communities are able and willing to pay for the WS service.
However, inability to raise adequate f ee, misuse of the collected fund, and lack of
proper book keeping and saving are found to be the major financial threats to the
sustainability. Fourth, failure to consult beneficiaries in technology choice, lack of
community skill required to operate and maintain the schemes properly because
of absence of trained local technicians, unavailability of tools and spare parts
either at woreda or community level and poor construction quality are found to
be major technological threats to sustainability of RWS in the study area. Fifth,
the institutional capacity of the leading office is limited and the external support
service given to the community from implementing agencies to effectively manage
their water systems is found to be inadequate. Therefore, the findings call for
adopting demand respons ive approach, strengthening community participation,
building community capacity to manage WSSs properly, establishing effective
user fee collection system, developing trus ted and transparent system of funds
management, choosing appropriate technology, building local technicians'
capacity, minimizing problems related with availability of spare parts, improving
construction quality as well as strengthening the capacity of the leading office at
woreda le vel to support rural communities in managing water supply.
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Keywords
Affecting Sustainability of Rural Water Supply