Access to water supply and sanitation in Ethiopia is amongst the lowest in Sub-Saharan Africa and the entire world. While access has increased substantially with funding from foreign aid, much still remains to be done. Some factors inhibiting the achievement of these goals are the limited capacity of water bureaus in the country's nine regions, two city administrations and water desks in the 770 districts of Ethiopia (woredas); insufficient cost recovery for proper operation and maintenance; and different policies and procedures used by various donors, notwithstanding the Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness.
In 2001 the government adopted a water and sanitation strategy that called for more decentralized decision-making; promoting the involvement of all stakeholders, including the private sector; increasing levels of cost recovery; as well as integrating water supply, sanitation and hygiene promotion activities. Implementation of the policy apparently is uneven.
In 2005 the government announced highly ambitious targets to increase coverage in its Plan for Accelerated Sustained Development and to End Poverty (PASDEP) for 2010. The investment needed to achieve the goal is about US$300 million per year, compared to actual investments of US$39 million in 2001–2002. In 2010 the government presented the equally ambitious Growth and Transformation Plan (GTP) 2011–2015, which aims at increasing drinking water coverage, based on the government's definition, from 68.5% to 98.5%. While donors have committed substantial funds to the sector, effectively spending the money and to ensure the proper operation and maintenance of infrastructure built with these funds remain a challenge.
Water resources and use
Ethiopia has 12 river basins with an annual runoff volume of 122 billion m3 of water and an estimated 2.6–6.5 billion m3 of ground water potential. This corresponds to an average of 1,575 m3 of physically available water per person per year, a relatively large volume. However, due to large spatial and temporal variations in rainfall and lack of storage, water is often not available where and when needed. Only about 3% of water resources are used, of which only about 11% (0.3% of the total) is used for domestic water supply.
The capital Addis Ababa's main source of drinking water is the Gafsara dam built during the Italian occupation and rehabilitated in 2009. Wells and another dam complement the supply.
The city of Dire Dawa is supplied exclusively from groundwater that is highly polluted. The situation is most dramatic in Harar where "a steady decrease of the level of Lake Alemaya has resulted in the complete closure of the treatment plant". Due to supply shortfall, water vendors sell untreated water at extremely high prices. The lake dries up because of local climate change, changes in land use in its basin and increased irrigation of khat, a mild drug that is being grown for local consumption and export. A pipeline is expected to bring water over a distance of 75 km from a well field near Dire Dawa to Harar.
People who have no access to improved supply usually obtain water from rivers, unprotected springs and hand-dug wells. Well, rivers and springs can be contaminated and can cause waterborne diseases. Rainwater harvesting is also common.
Groundwater
The great majority of the rural community water supply relies on groundwater through shallow wells, deep wells and springs. Data from 2012 estimated that 70 % of domestic water use in rural Ethiopia is supplied by groundwater, and large cities like Addis Ababa get up to 40 % of water supply and industrial water use from groundwater.
Volcanic rocks are the most extensive and accessible aquifers in central Ethiopia. In terms of groundwater storage, loose sediments are the most important aquifers.
Shallow groundwater sites are recharged by local sources, for example the Addis Ababa pocket wells, Akaki well fields, and Ada’a plain. These well fields are in urban areas and are used as water sources of major settlements and industries. For this reason, these groundwater resources are at risk of groundwater contamination
In Central Ethiopia, many of the aquifers are volcanic which leads to a high degree of heterogeneity of the groundwater flow systems. A detailed analysis of the groundwater flow systems is needed for decision-making to achieve sustainable water resource management.