A model water supply, sanitation and waste management system is inaugurated today in Wukro town, Tigray Region of Ethiopia.
Part of the One WASH Plus program, the system integrates innovative and resilient solutions to provide Water Supply, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) services to 73,000 people, including 35,000 children under the age of 15, residing in the town and its satellite villages.
Attending the inauguration were His Excellency Dr. Negash Wagasho, State Minister of Water Irrigation and Electricity, Dr Christian Rogg, Head of the UK’s Department for International Development (DFID) in Ethiopia, Ms. Gillian Mellsop, UNICEF Representative in Ethiopia, officials from the Tigray Regional Government and Wukro Town administration officials.
“Ethiopia’s rapid urbanization and population growth has resulted in increased water stress,” said Dr. Negash Wagasho. “The development of adequate, resilient, sustainable and inclusive WASH services is therefore a must to ensure sustainable development of rapidly growing towns. Thus, what we are seeing today is what can be achieved when we put our concerted efforts together.”
“The UK is the largest bilateral donor in the Ethiopian WASH sector and we are proud to fund the excellent work taking place in Wukro, which is supplying vital water and sanitation services to the town and its surroundings,” said Dr Rogg. “I hope the progress in Wukro can serve as an example to be emulated on a national scale.”
UNICEF Representative Gillian Mellsop said the project was one of the greatest achievements of the One WaSH Plus programme and stands as a testament to the tremendous good that can be achieved when everyone pools their resources together towards one common purpose.
“Investments of this nature, both in Wukro and elsewhere in Ethiopia, are not just improving access to essential services but are changing entire lives,” said Dr. Samuel Godfrey, Chief of WASH at UNICEF. “Women and girls no longer have to walk long distances and spend many hours fetching water. Girls can go to school and attend to their schoolwork while mothers have enough time to spend with their children and engage in other productive activities. For communities, a safe and clean environment means fewer disease outbreaks.”
The Wukro project involved expanding the capacity of the town’s existing system to supply water to the town and five satellite villages, integrating it with a “full chain” system for managing liquid sludge and waste (from containment to recycling).
It is expected to improve water and sanitation in institutions such as schools and health facilities, and establishing a business model for managing the facility comprising the local administration and private operators.
The low-cost technology deployed in treating domestic liquid waste in selected social housing developments in the town was sourced through a partnership with the Government of Brazil, according to the press statement NewBusinessEthiopia.com received from UNICEF.
The One WASH Plus programme, fully funded by DFID, is implemented by UNICEF in collaboration with the Ministry of Water, Irrigation and Electricity, regional sector bureaus, and the Water Resource Development Fund. The program also works with the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Urban Development and Construction, and respective Sector Regional Bureaus, as well as town administrations and town water supply and sewerage utilities.
The program, which began in 2013, will benefit 250,000 people in eight small towns and surrounding rural villages in Amhara, Oromia, Somali and Tigray regions with a total investment of some US $36 million by targeting communities living in towns and in peri-urban areas. Models such as the one in Wukro, some large and others medium sized, are now a key component of the One WaSH program across more than 1,000 towns in the four regions in Ethiopia.
Ethiopia’s rapid urbanization and urban development has resulted in increased water stress and high potential for disease outbreaks. The development of adequate, resilient, sustainable and inclusive WASH services is therefore a must to ensure sustainable development of the rapidly growing towns to meet the targets set in the SDGs.