The spring water source located at Chilalo Mountain about 1.8
kms from Chelenko town was harnessed with 25 million birr to ensure water
supply for the town about ten years ago.
As the frequent occurrence of stone sliding at the mountain threatened
the protective structure constructed at the eye of the spring under the
mountain, it necessitated the plantation of vegetation that halted the stone
sliding while in the mean time helped recharge the water resource which
consequently increased the discharge capacity of the spring.
Four years later from the launching of the water supply
project, Hararghe Catholic Secretariat (HCS) has got involved in the extension of the water supply scheme over 24
kms distance that was carried out in three phases with a total of 10.4 million
birr to benefit the rural communities living in Chelenko Lola, Duse, Welteha,
Hakebas, Gedera and Dursitu Bilisuma kebeles.
One of the reasons that initiated the extension of water
supply from the spring source at Chelenko to the nearby kebeles was noted to be
the absence of alternative water sources such as adequate ground water. The
efforts made by the water bureau and HSC to dig boreholes at Chelenko Lola
kebele upto 61 meter depth failed to provide reliable water supply to the
nearby community.
The water supply project was mainly implemented using
motorized pumps to push the water up the hill to the 500 cubic meter reservoir
at Chelekno town and a gravity scheme down the mountain to supply water to the
individual kebeles in the area.
Ato Abiti Getaneh, director of Research and Development
Directorate at the Federal Ministry of Water and Energy (MoWE), who travelled
to the area with the group of journalists and communication professionals,
indicated the purpose of the field visit which he said was to draw important
lessons from best practices in water supply projects in the area and
disseminate and scale up to other areas in the country.
Ato Tadesse Regassa, head of Chelenko town water supply
authority, noted the impact of the water supply project which was initially
intended to serve about 11,000 people living at Chelenko town for 25 years
period of time. Ten years later the same source is now providing water supply
to over 35,000 residents of the town in addition to the six kebeles being
served as a result of the extension work carried out in partnership with HCS.
W/r Addisalem Mume, vice head of Water, Mineral and Energy
bureau of the woreda pointed out the difference the extension work has made in
the lives of the people in those kebeles as it has ensured continuous water
supply to the people with 22 water points. She also recalled that before the extension
of the water supply scheme was carried out to the surrounding kebeles the
people in the area used to rely on unprotected water from ponds to meet their
demands for water supply which exposed them to various water borne diseases.
Jawad Yusuf and Chaltu Ahmed who are both grade ten students
at Chelenko high school and Meseret Gezu, a 10th grader at the same
school noted the difference the availability of water in their area has made in
their lives as they used to walk more than one and half hour to fetch water
from unprotected water source. But now they could easily tap water at a close
range within a few minutes walk. They also said that they are paying upto 25
cents for a 20 litters Jeri can.
Community involvement
The involvement of the community in the implementation of the
project as well as the management of the water resource was noted to be
significantly very high. Members of the communities took part in the extension
of the water schemes in terms of labour contribution by digging channels for
the extension of the water supply scheme. It was indicated that they carried a
generator with an equivalent weight of 1000 kg down to the water spring when
the project was first initiated before electric power has been extended to the
area. They also got involved in the plantation of vegetation which covered a vast
area on the mountain to protect the structure and help recharge the water
resource in the area. The surrounding communities have successfully enforced
their own bylaws to keep out human beings and cattle from the enclosed area for
vegetation coverage over the mountain that accelerated the regeneration
process. It was noted that though the community around the spring was in the
beginning doubtful about the prospect of sharing their water resource to the
nearby villages, they were gradually convinced as the amount of water yield
rather increased from 160 litter per second to 230 litter per second as a
result of the vegetation coverage and the protection of the natural
environment.
The communities were also involved in the management of the
water points as Edirs took the responsibility of assigning
members of the water committees which are also accountable to the town’s water
supply authority that overseas their activities and provides technical support
when the need arises. According to the contractual agreement signed with Edirs,
individual attendants are assigned for each water point that are entitled to
receive 23% of the revenue generated as a payment for their service from the
sale of water that costs about 15 cents for a 20 litters jeri can. This
arrangement was indicated to have encouraged greater involvement and ownership
from the individual attendants as they are ready to provide the required
service at any time as the demand arises in the community. Based on the
readings of the water meter attached to individual water points, the town water
supply authority would collect the payments for the water supply services to
effect the cost recovery of the project.
Increasing water supply coverage
The coverage of water supply in Meta woreda which has 51
kebeles and four town administrations was indicated to have increased to 45%
from 29% before the expansion of the water supply scheme in area. In addition
to about 35,000 people living at Chelenko town at present, the water supply
scheme has now ensured a continuous water provision to more than 25,000 people
living in the surrounding kebeles with total beneficiaries from the same source
exceeding 60,000. It was indicated that Chelenko town water supply coverage has
now reached 94.2%. “The more the number of beneficiaries tapping into the same
source, the greater the cost reduction would be to make it more affordable to
the communities,” said Gebeyehu Abebe, WASH capacity building officer at HCS.
Ensuring water quality
In order to ensure the safety of the water supply used for
drinking purpose, chemical treatment is centrally applied at the reservoirs in
addition to periodically washing the reservoirs once in three to six months
period. The protective structures at the eye of the spring and along the
extension lines also pointed out to avoid the possible contamination of the water
which otherwise might have happened. Moreover, household water treatment was
indicated to be part of sanitation and hygiene promotion effort carried out by
HCS in integration with the water supply projects.
As a result, data collected from the health centers in the
area noted to have shown significant decline in diarrheal cases and water borne
diseases which was said to be among the top ten health problems in the area.
These problems were pointed out to be still observed in other kebeles which do
not yet have access to such kind of safe water supply from protected sources.
Integrated approach
Alemayehu Teshome, Integrated Rural WASH Team leader at HCS,
highlighted the unique features of the MUS project at Chelenko among which he
noted the integration of rural and urban water supply schemes, and the
development of nursery to promote vegetation coverage and boost water supply to
the beneficiaries. The integration of the woreda and town administration, HCS
and the communities was also cited as exemplary which enabled a successful and
equitable resource utilization among a wide range of communities in the area.
The water supply scheme was so designed to provide multiple use of water such
as for drinking, shower, laundry, and irrigation practices as well as cattle
trough. It has also provided water supply to institutions in the area including
five schools and a church.
The promotion of ecological sanitation and personal hygiene
education as part of the water supply project was also cited as a good example
for integration between water supply and sanitation and hygiene promotion.
Using Participatory Hygiene and Sanitation Transformation (PHAST) approach
before CLTCH was adopted, 620 slabs were distributed to households which
constructed toilet facilities in their compound. Two kebeles from each of the
five woredas in Eastern Hararghe have been selected for sanitation
and hygiene promotion being carried out by HCS.
Ensuring sustainability
In order to ensure the sustainability of the water supply
project in the area, Edirs from individual communities
were given the responsibility to protect the water supply schemes within their
locality. Selected members from the community were also given training to
handle minor maintenance with the provision of the required technical support
from the water authority for any major maintenance beyond their capacity. The
involvement of the community was also reflected in the close follow up of the
water supply schemes in their area as they usually report any damage they
spotted along the structures right away to the concerned authority for
immediate maintenance service.
Sanitation Marketing
It was indicated that sanitation marketing groups have been
involved in the provision of WASH services as they were providing slabs on sale
to individual households that have been triggered to construct their own
latrine. A private vendor in Western Harrarge was also noted to have been
involved in the provision of spare parts for WASH facilities on demand with a
fixed profit margin indicated in the contractual agreement signed among the
woreda water bureau, HCS and the concerned individual. It was also indicated
that market assessment was carried out to identify fast moving items that
require constant supply to ensure sustainability of WASH facilities in the
area.
Scaling up
To expand the MUS project at Chelenko to reach at more number
of beneficiaries from other kebeles in the surrounding area, Ato Alemayehu
pointed out that a regular assessment of the current discharge capacity would
be carried out before initiating further expansion work. But similar efforts
were noted to have been carried out with lesser degree of success as in the
case of the Borehole dug at Kulubi area to provide water supply to the
surrounding communities in the neighboring villages. Promoting the MUS approach
of water supply projects in other parts of the country has been noted crucial
to meet the increasing demands of WASH services and ensure the sustainability
of WASH schemes for a long period of time.
No comments:
Post a Comment