Project title: Assessing climate resilience of piped water supplies in Ethiopia
Funder: Perivoli Africa Research Centre (PARC)
Climate change threatens the drinking water supply of millions of people in rural Ethiopia, where fewer than 10% of the population has access to water that is free from contamination. Most communities rely on shared water sources, generally managed by local community volunteers. These are prone to frequent mechanical breakdowns during drought and faecal contamination after heavy rainfall. To address the risks posed by current climate patterns and future climate change, the Government of Ethiopia is building piped-water supplies managed by professionalized rural utilities. These systems have the potential to minimize the low levels of safe water access and high vulnerability of existing water supplies to erratic rainfall.
Our goal is to use a climate resilient indicator framework called How tough is WASH? to determine how piped-water supplies are likely to respond to climate threats. The ability of water supplies to cope with climate effects i.e., their climate resilience, depends on multiple aspects of service delivery including local government support, effective management and well-designed infrastructure. With this in mind, we will collect data from households on their experience with the water supplies – what challenges they face in accessing safe, reliable drinking water, and how they manage these challenges. We will also interview operators and managers of the water supplies to understand how they manage seasonal scarcity and changes in water quality. We have secured support from the Water Development Commission of Government of Ethiopia to test this framework at selected sites in eastern Ethiopia and the outputs will be used to inform national monitoring of piped water supplies.
Our project team
- PI: Dr. Abraham Gemerew, College of Health and Medical Sciences, Haramaya University
- Co-PI: Dr. Anisha Nijhawan, University of Bristol
- Co-I: Professor Guy Howard, University of Bristol
- Yohannes Mulugeta, College of Health and Medical Sciences, Haramaya University
- Mohammed Muzeyin Ali, College of Health and Medical Sciences, Haramaya University