Abstract:
The purpose of this study was to assess the status of urban water supply, the case, and the
challenges of water supply in Arba Minch town, Southern Ethiopia. In this mixed research
design n=309 (male =187 and female =122, with mean age 47±11.12 years) households
were selected using a simple random sampling technique. The questionnaire, semi
structured interview, and document analysis were the data collection instruments. The
town has two types of water sources; one spring about 95l/s discharge and three Boreholes
about 75l/s discharge. The daily water demand of the town is 12,800 m3. The volume of
daily water supply from these sources is estimated at 9,875m3/day. Per capita, Water
consumption estimation for the last three years was (29.66L/c/d, in 2019, (28.15L/c/d, in
2020) and (32.38L/c/d in 2021), which shows fluctuations in water consumption. Besides,
Per capita, Water loss estimation for the last three years was 24%, 25%, and 39.75% for
the years 2019, 2020, and 2021 respectively. Regarding water tariff calculation, for
consumption bands 1-5, the multiplying tariff of Arba Minch is higher than that of other
towns. The socio-demographic variables like Educational Status, House Owner of
participants, Monthly income, and family size of the participants significantly predict
households' clean water line connection ownership (p < 0.001). Furthermore, the
topography, technical and economic variables are found to be determinants of the town's
water supply. Hence, possible measures need to be taken as recommended in the last
section of this thesis.
