Journal of Water and Land Development

Abstract

Access to clean and sufficient drinking water is difficult in much of Ethiopia's Afar Region. It is observed that many schemes in the region are non-functional. The study was conducted to overcome the observed problem in seven selected districts of the region. The study regarded hand-dug wells and roof water collection systems, which are the two most common features in the research areas. Eight hand-dug wells and sixteen roof water harvestings are purposively included in the study. All the water points are constructed by Kelem Ethiopia which is a non-governmental organisation and the foremost local organisation for the communities. As per the research survey, the average functional status of the hand-dug well schemes is 65.75% and the roof water harvesting schemes is 22.94%. The research was based on the qualitative data collected on site. The hand-dug well sites were evaluated using 10 parameters, and the roof water harvesting schemes were analysed using 12 parameters. The main non-functional aspects of the scheme are lack of community ownership, drying up of water sources, lack of maintenance and rehabilitation, poor coordination of beneficiaries and school roofs blowing off. Most schemes still require minor to major maintenance and rehabilitation. According to the research, the solutions for water supply are identified in relation to the desired objective.