ASSESSMENT OF PERFORMANCE OF GEWADA ALLE WOREDA WATER SUPPLY SCHEME, SEGEN ZONE, ETHIOPIA

Abstract

Gewda, Guma, Golango and Lalicho are located at Alle woreda at Segen Zone, southern Nations nationalities Region, Ethiopia. These four Kebeles have a water supply network using spring sources from highland and the scheme was constructed in 2003 E.C. Although it was constructed recently it had many problems in the network and in operation and maintenance. This study was to identify the problems and propose a solution by using EPANET 2.0 software, survey and conducting questionnaire to the users and the committee members. From the EPANET analysis and site survey Gewada Kebele had water scarcity because of the high pressure occurring at the site which resulted in the burst of the pipes. Another output of EPANET was the high pressure at Guma, resulted in repeated interruption of water supply for downstream users. It means the pipes used are of most probably poor quality although the pressure is high and technical problem during design and construction can be another reason. The finding of the questionnaire about the water supply are summarized as follows: 18.6% said the water supply service delivery in the community was inadequate due to poor construction, 45.7% responded insufficient water quantity, 38.6% have responded weak ownership feeling, 31.4% responded inadequate water committee training, 34.3 % said the system had low operation and maintenance, 10% of the responded weak water fee cost management. According to the respondents about the water quality, 8.6% said weak protection of the water sources an d 20% of them said the water had unacceptable taste and 40% said it the water had colour and 21.4 % said the water had odor. From the survey, although all the taps are functional, the per capita consumption of water in the woreda was calculated 11.6 litters which is not sufficient and is below the rural water supply standard of Ethiopia which showed that the community is seriously suffering from shortages water. From the studies all the water quantity and quality problems and the proper function of the network were ascribed due to lack of proper operation and maintenance, weak protection of the spring and the catchment, weak management, low ownership of the community, low training of the water committee and failure of some part of the network was due to construction and design problems. Therefore, based on this preliminary study, regular maintenance and awareness creation and follow up to the community by the water Bureau of the Wereda can be a better solution to solve the problem before it is getting worse