Although considerable improvements have been achieved, poor drinking water quality still is a recognised health threat in Ethiopia since a considerable burden of disease originates from unsafe water. In Ethiopia, the mortality rate attributed to unsafe water, sanitation and hygiene services is 43.7 per 100,000 persons (WHO 2018), and the average Ethiopian child suffers five to twelve diarrheal episodes yearly as a result of poor drinking water and poor environmental sanitation (MoH, 2011). 

The project will support the set up and implementation of the framework by introducing Water Safety Plans, in which both the capacity of partners Addis Ababa Water and Sewerage Authority (AAWASA) and Adama Town Water Supply and Sewerage Service Supply (AWSSE) to deal with non- revenue water will increase. The project will also demonstrate small infrastructural measures in the catchment areas of potable water to increase water availability and its quality in the cities of Addis Ababa and Adama (e.g. prevention of soil erosion). Upscaling of these interventions to a national level will be made possible through the establishment of a national Education Centre focusing on Integrated Water Resources Mgt. and Water and Sanitation and Health approaches. Adoption of an innovative problem based multi-stakeholders approach to water supply chain management. This will result in improved water quality and services for 4.5 million people in the metropolitan area Addis Ababa.

Goal of the project

The project Source to Tap and Back (S2TAB) started in 2013 in Ethiopia. The goals of the project were to establish:

  • a stakeholder dialogue and capacity development approach for improved financial and environmental sustainability of drinking water services, 
  • improved control of wastewater discharges in the catchments, 
  • water resource protection, 
  • measures to reduce sedimentation in the catchment reservoirs, 
  • improved water supply and service delivery in two drinking water supplies,
  • increased access to improved sanitation, and 
  • reduction of non-revenue water to reduce water loss. 

RIVM focused on the part of the project S2TAB to improve water supply and service delivery.  The objectives of this part of the project were to: 

  • implement CR-WSPs in the urban water supplies of Addis Ababa Water and Sewerage Authority (AAWSA) and Adama Water Supply and Sewerage Enterprise (AWSSE) .
  • strengthen drinking water quality monitoring (WQM) at the laboratories of both drinking water utilities (AAWSA and AWSSE) and the Ethiopian Public Health Institute (EPHI). 
     

Who were involved 

Vitens Evides International (VEI) coordinated this Dutch – Ethiopian project, which involved four Ethiopian and five Dutch partners: Addis Ababa Water and Sewerage Authority (AAWSA); Adama Water Supply and Sewerage Enterprise (AWSSE); Oromia Water Mineral and Energy Bureau; Ethiopian Public Health Institute (EPHI); Vitens Evides International (VEI); Dutch Water Authority Vallei en Veluwe; Dutch Water Authority Zuiderzeeland; MetaMeta and Dutch National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM). 

For the implementation of CR-WSP, the German Environment Agency (UBA) was subcontracted.

Products 

Highlights

  • Implementation of water safety planning at Addis Ababa Water and Sewerage Authority (AAWSA) and Adama Water Supply and Sewerage Enterprise (AWSSE).
  • Improvement of water quality monitoring and laboratory facilities at the laboratories of Addis Ababa Water and Sewerage Authority (AAWSA) and Adama Water Supply and Sewerage Enterprise (AWSSE).
  • Improvement of water quality monitoring and laboratory facilities at the Ethiopian Public Health Institute.

RIVM role  

RIVM was a project partner and RIVM focused on the part of the project S2TAB to improve water supply and service delivery.