Ginchi: appropriate water treatment in Yubdo Legebatu Peasant Association

Site - Yubdo Legabatu Peasant Association (YLPA) near Ginchi in Oromia Region

Mapping of water resources in the Yubdo Legebatu Peasant Association (YLPA) in the Dandi Woreda near Ginchi in the Central Highlands of Ethiopia by ILRI showed that the community had access to 28 water sources including rivers and springs distributed unevenly across flat bottom land, medium and steep slopes. From visual observation, most of these sources were found unsuitable for human consumption as livestock have open access to all sources at any point in time and all along their course with only one exception. Water quality analysis confirmed that indeed most water sources were contaminated with high levels of fecal coliform bacteria. As part of a larger proposal for which additional funding still needs to be found, we plan to pilot in this community a simple, locally developed water storage and treatment technique. The special sand filtration clay pot has been pre-tested and showed an effective reduction of bacterial contamination between 50 and 90%.

The YLPA will select 80 households equally spread over upland and valleys, 40 of which will be given a sand filtration clay pot for testing and adaptation. After a period of monitoring, the technology will be up-scaled to peasant associations in adjacent districts. As YLPA lies outside the current studies sites and is not within the NileBasin either, it may be necessary to set up a separate learning alliance here, though perhaps this could also be an activity under the national learning alliance, since CRS is among the partners here.