EVALUATION OF RURAL WATER SUPPLY SCHEMES SERVICE LEVEL IN GOMBORA WOREDA, HADIYA ZONE, SOUTHERN ETHIOPIA

Abstract

All reports confirm that the rural water supply coverage of Ethiopia have been in strong upward trajectory since 1990. Different project has been implementing rural water supply schemes using community management program approach in Southern nation nationality and people of Ethiopia since 2003. The project has achieved significant result on rural water supply schemes; functionality, implementation rate and community empowerment. using community management program related researches confirm that the approach has achieved more than 98% of rural water supply scheme functionality. However, the level of service delivered by those functional water supply schemes had not been studied so far. Therefore, focusing on functioning rural water supply schemes in Gombora woreda, the presentstudy evaluated the service level using water quantity, quality, accessibility and reliability indicators, identify determinant factors affecting rural water supply schemes functionality and service level. The study is both qualitative and quantitative in its design. Questionnaire, focused group discussion, key informantinterview, observation, and document analysis are the main data gathering tools used in thisstudy. The quantitative data collected were analysed using SPSS (Statistical Package forSocial Science) and presented through tables, graphs and charts where as the qualitative information were precisely narrated. To come up with valid conclusion rural water supply schemes were selected using representative sampling technique. The household survey found water quantity is the worst to meet the national target, only 1/4th of beneficiaries met the water quantity set by the UAP. Design problems, lack of community cohesion during construction, monitoring and supervision and environmental problems were found as important factors affecting water supply service level beneficiaries get from functioning rural water supply schemes