Somali Regional State Dabofayed and Jirrie Water Supply Project – Ethiopia

This project aims at improving access to safe and adequate drinking water for the existing 12,700 and projected 23,000 population of the Dabofayed and Jirrie villages for fifteen years.  Drawing water from Wabi-shabelle (Shabelle) River, two Slow Sand Filtration (SSF) water supply schemes were developed and started providing clean water to the communities, surpassing the national  standard of 25 litres per capita per day within a kilometre.

The project was completed in July 2019 and has significantly transformed the lives of people in these two villages. Women and children used to travel up to 3km each way, spending 45-90 minutes every day collecting muddy water from the very turbid Shabelle River. Crocodile attacks on the river bank were also very common, causing on average of 3-4 deaths a year.  Waterborne diseases such as diarrhoea were rampant due to the use of untreated water from the river.

Thanks to our water project, the situation is different now. A clean water supply from the communal water points in the villages enables each woman or female child to free up a total of 540 hours a year of their time used spent traveling to collect water.  Per capita of water consumption has surpassed the aforementioned national standard. Lives have been saved and injuries prevented from crocodile attacks and the prevalence of waterborne diseases reduced.