14.2.1 Planning criteria

The targets in Box 14.1 were the overall goals for the Programme, but it also needed to specify how achievement of the targets should be assessed. For example, to measure progress towards the target of 98.5% access to water supply there needs to be a standard, or criterion, for what ‘access to water supply’ means. The criteria for water supply and sanitation for both rural and urban settings determined the number of water schemes and sanitation facilities to be constructed. For OWNP planning, the government used the standards for water and sanitation from the UAP and SAP, which were as follows:

• Rural water supply: 15 litres per capita per day within 1.5 km radius.
• Urban water supply: 20 litres per capita per day within 0.5 km radius.
• Rural and peri-urban sanitation: reduce open defecation by constructing both traditional and improved latrines using the community-led total sanitation and hygiene (CLTSH) approach (described in Study Session 10).
• Urban sanitation: sewerage will be considered in Addis Ababa, while desludging facilities and the provision of public toilets will be considered for other towns (OWNP, 2013).

Some of the terms used in these criteria may need explanation. Per capita is Latin and means per head or per person. Sewerage is the network of underground sewer pipes in a town or city. (Note this is not the same as sewage, which is the wastewater that flows through a sewer.) Urban areas without sewerage rely on pit latrines and septic tanks. These need to be desludged regularly, i.e. sludge that accumulates over time has to be removed. Desludging facilities include vacuum truck services and sludge drying beds. Vacuum trucks suck out the sludge from the pit or septic tank and take it away for disposal. Sludge drying beds are shallow tanks where sludge is left to dry out and can then be used as a soil improver.

The planners used these criteria and several other data inputs to calculate the number of facilities required and their costs. They needed to know the number of people living in an area and where they lived, the number of kebeles, the location of water sources or potential water sources and how much water they could provide, as well as sources and amounts of financial support. For budgeting purposes, they took account of regional factors such as the availability and costs of labour and materials, and also made a financial forecast of inflation. Plans and budgets were developed for all regions of Ethiopia and for each of the OWNP components. For water supply there are plans for new rural water schemes, for rehabilitating existing rural water schemes and for new urban water supply systems. For sanitation the plans cover combined rural and peri-urban areas, and urban areas. There are also plans for water supply and sanitation improvements in institutions. The OWNP document sets out the details of the facilities and costs for each of these components. The next section describes the plans for rural water supply in more detail. For full details of all the regional plans for all components of water and sanitation you should refer to the OWNP document.