The Ethiopian government has set itself an ambitious target of achieving 98.5% water coverage and 100 per cent sanitation coverage by 2015. But how realistic is this target?
Currently only 54% of Ethiopia’s 83 million people has access to an improved water source and 60 per cent to sanitation, while there is a big disparity between rural and urban coverage [1]. Some 14% of under-5 childhood deaths in 2010 was caused by diarrhoea [2].
Ethiopia estimates it will need US$ 3 billion to reach universal water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) coverage, of which US$ 1.5 billion has been pledged by the government and donors [3]. Recent commitments include a US$ 150 million World Bank loan for the Urban Water Supply and Sanitation Project (UWSSP) [4] and a US$ 100 Chinese loan for water supply in Addis Ababa, announced in November 2011 [5].
