Prospects
and Challenges of Water Supply and Sanitation in Ethiopia with respect to MDGs
By:
Teshome Adugna (PhD student)
Auteria
Abstract
Water
supply and sanitation are two most important sectors in development. The
objectives of this study are to describe the water supply and sanitation
coverage, to identify the source of water supply and types of sanitation, to
study the regional, urban and rural distribution of water supply and sanitation
facilities in the country. In addition to these, the study analyse the expected
improvement of water supply and sanitation coverage with its required cost to
meet the Millennium Development Goals of water supply and sanitation in
Ethiopia. The study use descriptive analysis to address its objectives.
The
study reveals that water supply and sanitation coverage in
Sustainability
of water supply and sanitation scheme, lack of financial and skilled person,
poor cost recovery, poor absorptive capacity, absence of clearly stated
responsibilities between region, woreda and community water committee are the
major problems that will encounter the implementation of this program. The
Federal or regional government should conduct awareness campaign to local
people, provide suitable vocational and technical training, improve absorptive
capacity of aid or loan that available for water supply and sanitation projects
in order to meet the stated targets.
1 Introduction
In realizing the need to address these
challenges in the country within a time bound and targeted frameworks,
Government of Ethiopia (GoE) accepted and localized the Millennium Development Gaols
(MDGs) with its PASDEP[1].
Goal seven of the millennium declaration is to ensure environmental sustainable.
Target ten of this goal is to halve the shortage of water supply and sanitation
at the end of the millennium development goals (2015).This paper has eleven sections.
The second section describes the objectives of the study. The third section
discusses the historical development of millennium development goals. In this
section you will see the different views that have been forwarded by world
leaders to solve the problems of developing courtiers at UN general assembly
since 1960s.
The fourth section explains the direct and
indirect role of water supply and sanitation to meet all goals of the
millennium declaration. In the fifth section you will see the water supply and
sanitation situation in
The study used the secondary date that
collected from difference sources: Ministry of Water Resource of Ethiopia,
World Health Organization, World Bank and other publication of government and
non governmental office. The method of analysis is simple description like
percentage, ratio, tabulation and graph.
2. Objective of the
study
The general objective of the study is to see
the prospects and challenges of water supply and sanitation to meet the Millennium
Development Goals of halving the problem of water supply and sanitation in
Ø
To
review the historical development of Millennium Development Goals.
Ø
To
study the water supply and sanitation coverage of the country by comparing with
selected countries.
Ø
To
see the major sources of drinking water supply and types of sanitation facilities
available in
Ø
To
analyse the Millennium Development Goals water supply and sanitation targets
Ø
To
study the infrastructures and financial requirement to meet the water supply
and sanitation up to the end of 2015.
Ø
To
identify the challenges that will be facing to meet the WSS Millennium Development
Goals.
Ø
To
forward the possible recommendation to meet MDGs WSS target.
3. Background to the
development of the MDGs
The
Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) are the end product of numerous UN
development conferences from the 1960s to 1990s. These all UN
development decades (First, Second, Third and Fourth Development decades)
focused largely on economic growth. The
first UN Development Decade was launched by the General Assembly in December
1961. It called on all member states to intensify their efforts to mobilize
support for measures required to accelerate progress toward self-sustaining
economic growth and social advancement in the developing countries. With each
developing country setting its own target, the objective would be a minimum
annual growth rate of 5% in aggregate national income by the end of the decade.
In 1970,
the General Assembly adopted a resolution outlining an international
development strategy for the second UN Development Decade. The main objectives
of the plan were to promote sustained economic growth, particularly in the
developing countries; ensure a higher standard of living, and facilitate the
process of narrowing the gap between the developed and developing countries.
The General Assembly declared that the developing countries bore primary
responsibility for their development but that their efforts would be
insufficient without increased financial assistance and more favorable economic
and commercial policies on the part of the developed countries. Under the goals
and objectives of the second decade, the General Assembly stated that the
average annual rate of growth in the gross product of the developing countries
as a whole should be at least 6%, with the possibility of attaining a higher
rate in the second half of the decade. Such a rate of growth would imply an
average annual expansion of 4% in agricultural output and 8% in manufacturing
output.
The third UN development decade which begin on 1, January 1981, focused
on New International Economic Order (NIEO), which introduced by developing
countries. The new international development strategy was adopted by the
General Assembly for the third UN Development Decade. It agreed to the goals
and objectives of the strategy and to translate them into reality by adopting a
coherent set of interrelated, concrete and effective policy measures in all
sectors of development
The
strategy set forth goals and objectives for an accelerated development of the
developing countries in the period 1981–90, including the following: (1) a 7%
average annual rate of growth of gross domestic product (GDP); (2) a 7.5%
annual rate of expansion of exports and an 8% annual rate of expansion of
imports of goods and services; (3) an increase in gross domestic savings to
reach about 24% of GDP by 1990; (4) a rapid and substantial increase in
official development assistance by all developed countries, to reach or surpass
the target of 0.7% of GNP of developed countries; (5) a 4% average annual rate
of expansion of agricultural production; and (6) a 9% annual rate of expansion
of manufacturing output. Other goals and objectives of the strategy included
the attainment, by the year 2000, of full employment, of universal primary
school enrollment, and of life expectancy of 60 years as a minimum, with infant
mortality rates no higher than 50 per 1,000 live births.
In 1990,
the General Assembly concluded that its goals for the Third UN Development
Decade had not been attained. It set new priorities and goals for the growth of
the developing member nations with its International Development Strategy (IDS)
for the Fourth United Nations Development Decade (1991–2000). Within one year
of its passage, however, the former
In
September 1990, the Second United Nations Conference on the Least Developed
Countries set targets for official development assistance (ODA) to those
nations. The General Assembly, through the new IDS, urged industrialized
countries to reach or surpass those targets. It also recommended that
developing countries try to raise their rate of industrialization by 8–10% and
increase their annual food production by 4%. The implementation of the
commitment of IDS was not successful according to the study committee report
conducted in October 1999.
For future
purposes, the report went on to differentiate between growth, which may carry
with it negative social consequences, and development, which means more than
simply increased purchasing power (as reflected in gross domestic product per
capita). According to the report, development also pertains to education,
health, and environmental standards, as well as to social (including gender)
equity. For this reason, "the spotlight is now shifting from a focus on
macroeconomic challenges to a number of institutional preconditions, including
good governance, transparency and accountability, decentralization and
participation and social security," said the UN report. Acceptable and
viable development strategies in the new millennium would have to take into
account the prevailing circumstances in developing countries, which could not
be expected to keep pace with industrialized, developed societies in the North.
As a result, the
MDGs reflect the emerging role of human rights in the international community,
focusing on the economic, social and cultural rights enumerated in the
Universal Declaration of Human Rights (rights to food, education, health care,
and decent standard of living). The Goals also reflect a mixture of
economic theory and human rights since a variety of human rights advocacy
groups and civil society organizations participated in the drafting of the
Goals.
The
International Development Goals, drafted in 1996 by the Development Assistance
Committee of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD),
also strongly influenced the MDGs. Seven of the eight MDGs are exactly
the same as the OECD goals. Like the OECD goals, the first seven MDGs are
time-bound and measurable. The eighth MDG is not time-bound, but instead
more of an aspirational goal. The UN also simulated the manner in which to
OECD goals relied on bilateral donors to further their development goals.
Unlike the OECD goals, however, the MDGs were formally adopted by developed and
developing countries alike.
In September
2000 the United Nations General Assembly, representing 189 countries, unanimously
adopted the Millennium Declaration.
As per the United
Nations General Assembly’s request, the Secretary General and various UN
agencies, as well as representatives of the World Bank, International Monetary
Fund (IMF), and Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD),
devised a plan for achieving the Millennium Declaration’s objectives –
resulting in 8 goals, 18 targets and 48 indicators known as the Millennium
Development Goals (MDGs). Eighteen specific goals targets have been set
across the eight goals and forty five indicators to monitor these targets.
The MDGs are a
set of time-bound and measurable goals and targets designed to decrease poverty, hunger, disease, illiteracy,
environmental devastation and discrimination against women. The MDGs are a unique approach to these
worldly problems – they confer obligations on both rich and poor governments,
but place a heavier burden on rich countries in terms of financial and
materials provision. The compressive nature of MDGs, targets and indicators
also pose several problems as well as opportunity for the countries that
embraced them. The following table show the eight goals and eighteen targets of
millennium development goals.( You
can see the indicators of all the goals are available at the end of the paper)
Table 1: Millinnum Development Goals with their
respective targets
|
MDGs Goals |
MDGs Targets |
|
Goal 1: Eradicate Extreme Hunger and Poverty |
1. Halve, between 1990 and 2015, the
proportion of people whose income is less than $1 a day 2. Halve, between 1990 and 2015, the
proportion of people who suffer from hunger |
|
Goal 2: Achieve Universal Primary Education |
3. Ensure that, by 2015, children
everywhere, boys and girls alike, will be able to complete a full course of
primary schooling |
|
Goal 3: Promote Gender Equality and Empower Women |
4. Eliminate gender disparity in primary
and secondary education, preferably by 2005, and in all levels of education
no later than 2015 |
|
Goal 4: Reduce Chiled
Mortality |
5. Reduce by two-thirds, between 1990
and 2015, the under-five mortality rate |
|
Goal 5: Improve
Maternal Health |
6. Reduce by three-quarters,
between 1990 and 2015, the maternal mortality ratio |
|
Goal 6: Combat HIV/AIDS, Malaria and other diseases |
7. Have halted by 2015 and begun to
reverse the spread of HIV/AIDS |
|
Goal 7: Ensure
Environmental Sustainability |
9. Integrate the principles of
sustainable development into country policies and programs and reverse the
loss of environmental resources 11. Have achieved by 2020 a
significant improvement in the lives of at least 100 million slum dwellers |
|
Goal 8: Develop a Global Partnership for Development |
12. Develop further an open,
rule-based, predictable, nondiscriminatory trading and financial system
(includes a commitment to good governance, development, and poverty
reduction? both nationally and internationally) 13. Address the special needs of the
Least Developed Countries (includes tariff- and quota-free access for Least
Developed Countries? exports, enhanced program of debt relief for heavily
indebted poor countries [HIPCs] and cancellation of official bilateral debt,
and more generous official development assistance for countries committed to
poverty reduction) 14. Address the special needs of
landlocked developing countries and small island developing states (through
the Program of Action for the Sustainable Development of Small Island
Developing States and 22nd General Assembly provisions) 15. Deal comprehensively with the debt
problems of developing countries through national and international measures
in order to make debt sustainable in the long term |
4. Role of water supply and
sanitation to meet MDGs
Until recently, the multiple benefits or roles of domestic water supply
and sanitation not received as much attention as they deserved. It was usually
considered water supply and sanitation as largely a “public health” benefit.
Now a broad range of non-health benefits have started to be recognized and
targeted in an increasing number of studies and report. In the recent draft
white paper on water service in
These broad benefit of water
supply and sanitation also revealed in the study by WaterAid, a leading NGO
working in household water provision(WaterAid,2001).This study reported on an
impact associated of older water supply and sanitation project in India,
Ethiopia, Ghana and Tanzania. The results showed a wider range of positive
impacts that were not in the design of the water project.
These indicate meeting the water supply and sanitation target set by the
international community for 2015 is a fundamental for achieving the other Millennium
Development Goals, such as alleviating poverty ,hunger and malnutrition; reducing
child mortality; increase gender equality; providing more opportunity for
education and ensuring environmental sustainability. The MDGs and associated
targets are an opportunities for prioritizing water on the basic of its ability
to impact overall poverty and contribute to significant socioeconomic and
environmental gains (IRINA, 2006). Water supply and sanitation can contribute,
directly or indirectly, to meeting all the other MDGs (John Soussan, 2003). Despite the strong link between each MDG, in order
to understand clearly, let us see briefly the role of water supply and
sanitation against each goal of Millennium Development Declarations.
The first goal of
millennium declaration is to reduce poverty (to halve the proportion of the
world’s people whose income is less than $1 a day) and hunger (to reduce the
proportion of the world’s people who suffer from hunger) in 2015.Hear water and
sanitation is an important ingredient to achieve these goals at the end of
stated year. Provision of water near to the household village or house saves
time and effort to use it for other wage earning and other social activities by
households. Based on the study conducted by WaterAid (Ibid) time spent in collecting
water reduced from an average of six to eight hours to five to twenty minutes
in
Water related poverty
occurs because people are either denied dependable water resource or because
they lack the capacity to use them. We usually invest not for water sack rather
for poverty’s sake. Accessibility of water supply and sanitation provide extra
time for the household for wage earning activity. Every dollar spent on water
supply and sanitation and water resource management is an investment with
strong, potential for solid return. The return in multiple sectors could range
from USD 3 to USD 34 for every dollar invested to meet the Millennium Development
Goals water and sanitation targets (WHO, 2006).At the world Water Week
Symposium in Stockholm in 2002, Klaus Topfer, who until 2006 was the longstanding
chief of UN Environment program (UNEP), said “without adequate clean water,
there can be no escape from poverty,” (Irina, 2006)
|
I have seen a
very radical change here. Before we only had unprotected source of water. My
family suffered badly. My three year old daughter died from this water. There
were parasites which gave us illnesses and stomach problems. So many children
used to die, but now this has changed and children do not die from these diseases. Before we
used to have to go to the health clinics all of the time, often every day. I
used to spend time walking there and hours just queuing to be seen, but now I
can save my time and money. I have bought 20 chickens and one goat from the
money I have saved. With the time I can work on my maize and pepper crop can
work on my maize and pepper crop Source:
WaterAid,2006 |
The second goal of the
millennium declaration is to achieve universal primary education. The provision
of water supply and sanitation increase school attendance by children
(especially girls) resulting from enough time to go school. Reduced water
carrying burdens improves school attendance, especially for girls and raises
education levels. Separate sanitation facilities for girls in school increase
their school participation. School children are especially prone to worm
infection; improving sanitation and hygiene can prevent these infections and
contribute to improved school attendance and better concentration.
In
The third millennium
declaration is to promote gender equality and empowers women. Today million of
people, mainly women struggle to locate and transport water for drinking,
cooking and washing need of their families. Access to water near home will save
time for women and girls. This saved time can be spent on productive activities
and education, which lay the groundwork for economic growth. Women are
particularly concerned about the safety and cleanliness of sanitation facility.
For them, sanitation means more than just latrines; they want safe private
places with sufficient water for personal use and washing cloth and better
drainage to avoid dirty water remaining in the streets.
Especially when water
supply improvements are coupled with opportunity to create income trough
microenterpise, time released from water collection is converted into income
earned. This brings several benefits; reduce drudgery, higher household income
and consequently greater women’s empowerment through changing gender relations
within the household. An improvement of water supply to the extent that women
spend one hour per day on collecting water would result in an improvement of
the annual income with upper boundaries of between Rs 750 and Rs
5520.Alternatively, each women might gain between 45 and 152 eight hour days
annually for domestic, social and development activities (Van WIJK, 2001)
The forth goal of
millennium declaration is to reduce child mortality. Children are particularly
at risk from water-related diseases such as diarrhea and parasitic diseases.
Lack of sanitation also increases the risk of outbreaks of cholera, typhoid and
dysentery. The provision of water and sanitation highly contribute for the
reduction of child mortality in most developing countries. It is estimated that
unsafe water and a lack of basic sanitation and hygiene every year claim the
live of more than 1.5 million children under five years old from diarrhea. But
those who die are by no means the only children affected many million more have
their development disrupted and their health undermined by diarrhea or other
water related disease.
An evaluation seminar
held in 1992 as a follow-up to the first UN international Decade for clean
drinking water (1981-1990) found that half the incidents of infant and child
mortality in central Africa Republic were due to water related diseases (IRINA,2006).
WHO estimates that in 2005, 1.6 million children under age 5 (an average of
4500 every day) died from the consequences of unsafe water and inadequate
hygiene. In order to reduce the mortality rate of the child we have to provide
clean water with adequate sanitation facility. It protects the children from
water related disease and enables them to get enough nutrition.
The fifth millennium
declaration is to improve maternal health. Just a few decade ago in most
developing countries and even now in some vast proportion of people have
suffered and are suffering from all sort of disease due to lack of access to
safe drinking water and use of unsafe water. Adequate and safe drinking water
and sanitation for all is an effective way of protecting the expansion of water
born diseases such as diarrhea, cholera, dysentery, etc, which are potential
cause of loss of life. The provision of water highly benefits women or mother
who travel long distance and spend their time to get water and sanitation.
Because they are the one who has more direct contact as compare to men. In
order to improve the health status of mother we have to achieve water supply
and sanitation target of Millennium Development Goals.
The sixth millennium
declaration is similar with the previous two declarations. It is to combat
HIV/AIDs, Malaria and other disease in 2015. HIV/AIDS has become the most
global epidemic ever. Improved water and sanitation services can play a crucial
role in slowing the progression of HIV
and in reducing the number of AIDS related death. Safe drinking is necessary for
taking medicines, while nearly latrines make life more tolerable for weak patients
(Eleien Kammina and Madeleen Wagelin, 2005). Even good water supply and
sanitation are even more important to HIV/AIDS families. They help infected
people to stay healthy longer and provide longer for their families. In the
same way better management of water resources control the transmission of
malaria and other diseases.
The other declaration
of millennium summit is to ensure environmental sustainability. The sustainable
economic development can be achieved if we used our recourse properly and
efficiently. Today current development should not be realized by the cost of
future development. Water is one of the unique resources that has strong link
with all other resource. Good management of water resources is vita to
environmental safety and sustainability. The miss utilization of water highly
affects the environment as well as the national economic development.
Degradation of freshwater ecosystem and land exacerbate the frequency and
impact of droughts, floods and other natural hazards particularly in
ecologically fragile area where the poor often live and can intensify
competition and the potential for conflict over access the shared water
resources.
5. Water supply and sanitation
coverage in
The provision of water supply[2]
and sanitation is an important sector that improves the well being of the
people. Access to water supply
refers to the provision of sustainable water supply to the basic need of the
people. Usually it is measured in terms of percentage
of people who are access for the minimum requirement of water quantity and
quality. Improved
drinking water technologies are those more likely to provide safe drinking
water than those characterized as unimproved. The minimum requirement can vary from country to country. According to
the definition of minimum requirement by the World Bank is each people should
get 40 lcpd. But in
Sanitation refers to the safe disposal of domestic wastes including
human waste. Unsanitation disposal of human waste will result in contamination
of water supply sources and spread of water born diseases. Access to sanitation also estimated
by the percentage of the population using improved sanitation facilities.
Improved sanitation facilities are those more likely to ensure privacy and
hygienic use.
In 2004 the water supply coverage at national level was 39.4 percent in
Sanitation coverage at world level is 59 percent in 2004.In SSA country
the average sanitation coverage is 37 percent. When we come to
Table 2: Water supply and sanitation coverage in
selected countries, 2004
|
Country |
Water supply coverage |
Sanitation coverage |
||||||
|
National |
Urban |
Rural |
Urban rural Gap |
National |
Urban |
Rural |
Urban rural Gap |
|
|
|
62 |
89 |
46 |
43 |
48 |
56 |
43 |
13 |
|
|
60 |
84 |
56 |
28 |
60 |
71 |
58 |
13 |
|
|
39.4 |
83.1 |
31.4 |
38 |
11.5 |
49.7 |
3.9 |
45.8 |
|
SSA |
56 |
80 |
42 |
40 |
37 |
53 |
28 |
25 |
|
S.E Asia |
82 |
89 |
77 |
12 |
67 |
81 |
56 |
25 |
|
Latin A |
91 |
96 |
73 |
23 |
77 |
86 |
49 |
37 |
|
World |
83 |
95 |
73 |
22 |
59 |
80 |
39 |
41 |
Source: JMP[3], 2006 and AFRIC MDR-
Report 2006
In terms of sanitation, the rural area also only 3.9 percent people got
sanitation as compared to 47.7 percent. Sanitation facilities coverage of
This happen because we compared the relatively lowest coverage of urban
area with the same lowest level of rural area. To come to my point in addition
to lower water supply and sanitation in
When we observe in terms of number of people access for water, around 20
million and 16 million people are access for pure water in
WSS: water
supply served SS:
Sanitation served
WSU: water supply unserved SU: Sanitation unserved
In terms of sanitation also around 66 million people not access for
sanitation facility as compared to
6. Trends of water supply and
sanitation coverage
Looking at the trends of water supply and sanitation coverage will helps
us to understand the performance of water supply and sanitation coverage during
the last decades. Hear we will see the change of the water supply and
sanitation coverage during 1990 to 2004.This trends can be seen the change of
water supply and sanitation coverage over the years and also in terms of the
number of peoples served and unnerved for both water supply and sanitation. In
1990 the water supply coverage was 19 percent at the national level. After five
years the national water coverage increased to 23 percent. It increased only by
21 percent between 1990-1995.In 2000 the water supply coverage reached 30.8
percent (34 percent increase).The performance is 13 percent higher than the
earlier five years. In 2004, the water supply coverage reached to 39.4. In this
year, the water supply increased by 28 percent. It is lower than the performance
of water supply coverage before five years.
In 1990 the level of sanitation is 3 percent that mean 97 percent of the
people could not get the sanitation facility. After five years the sanitation
coverage increased from 3 percent in 1990 to 5 percent in 1995.In 2000 the
sanitation converge reached to 8 percent. It increased by 60 percent as
compared to the year 2000.In 2004 the coverage reach it 11.5 percent. In these
five years also there is no significant change of the sanitation coverage. In
the last 14 years the average increase of water sanitation is only by 2
percent. The gap between sanitation and water supply are very high. The
coverage of sanitation is much more less than the coverage of sanitation. The
reason is the absence of effective policy and regulation. In addition to this, the
other reasons is the absence of coordination between the government, private
and beneficiaries sectors in providing water supply and sanitation facilities.