Water shortage management system and challenges in water scarcity area of Haramaya watershed, Eastern Ethiopia

Abstract

Ethiopia is developing countries which haven’t access to better water sources and over 75 to 85% people lack basic sanitation. Transition towards more sustainable urban water management is an urgent need since the scarcity of water has been a major challenge around the world. Supporting such a transition requires the development of alternative methods such as rainwater harvesting (RWH) system, recycling, desalination, wastewater reuse, etc. With the help of a systematic the study critically examined the major developments taken place in Haramaya watershed in the RWH system, measuring the RWH awareness index and identifying the implementation challenges and provides managerial solutions. With the help of an explanatory research design, quantitative analysis was conducted collecting both primary and secondary data. Semi-structured questionnaires were used as research instruments and 403 households (203 users and 200 non-users of the RWH system) of Haramaya watershed were interviewed. Measuring the awareness index in users and the non-users of the RWH system in terms of the four dimensions namely, financial, socio-environmental, technical and institutional, it is found that the user groups are more aware of the issues of climate change than the non-users. Around 70% of the respondent suggested that continuous monitoring, user’s self-commitment, cost-friendly technology, pollution control, among others can help to address the RWH system challenges. The current government strategy should be focused on knowledge/capacity building and structural improvements of RWH, and this gap can be fulfilled via an updated RWH system.