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 Abeba'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.
The great majority of the rural community water supply relies on groundwater through shallow wells, deep wells and springs. People who have no access to improved supply usually obtain water from rivers, unprotected springs and hand-dug wells. Rainwater harvesting is also common.
Read more about this topic: Water Supply And Sanitation In Ethiopia
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