Assessing the Challenges of Sustainable Water Supply in the Harari Region: The case of Harar town
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Date
2012-06
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Addis Ababa University
Abstract
This study provides empirical findings on challenges of sustainable water supply systems in
Harar town. Harar town has been experiencing multiple problems in getting potable water supply
in adequate quantity and quality. Even if after the installation of the modern Dire Jara water
supply system which has expanded its service by drilling a number of boreholes, still the demand
is not sat isfied and a number of people do not have access to adequate amount of potable water.
Descriptive statist ics on major household characterist ics (household size, age, sex, marital status,
educational level and income source) and key aspects or checklists of sustainability (bases for
water delivery, responsibility to fetch, the satisfaction le vel of the existing water supply systems,
efficiency and equity of water supply management service, and water tariff setting) and water
supply coverage were discussed. The study has confirmed that Harar town water supply service
could' not cover the demand of the town with present existing capacity. At present the coverage
of water supply is only 40 percent in terms of population. All areas of the town could not get
equal and proportional service. Central parts get more water supplies while the peripheral areas
remain without water. In addition to this, the tariff set is neither affordable for the majority nor
generates sufficient revenue to sustain the service. The majority of victims of the problem are the
poor as they cannot afford cOlmection charges. As a result, they are exposed to unprotected
sources and buy water from vendors at high price. The rogt causes of the challenging problems
are institutional, financial, human and material resource constraints. Taking this into
consideration government has been implementing short, intermediate and long term plans in
order to alleviate the problem. The major copping strategies for the challenges are synclu'onizing
different water sources, conserving water soW'ces, fam ily planning, demand management,
demand oriented supply, participating different actors, mobilizing financial resources, and
staffing organizational structW'e with sk illed persormel and equipping it with material facilities.
Key words: Water supply, demand for water, production, distribution, consumption, tariff,
willingness to pay, cost recovery: Harar.
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Keywords
Water supply, demand for water, production, distribution, consumption, tariff, willingness to pay, cost recovery, Harar