Socio-Economic Effects of Inadequate Drinking Water Distribution and Municipality Efforts to Alleviate the Drinking Water Supply: The Case of Awaday Town, Eastern Hararghe Zone, Ethiopia

Human beings in search of safe and adequate water for its existence have experienced all hardships; through the planet has enough water resources. And safe domestic water supply is an essential component of primary health care and plays a vital role in poverty alleviation. The present study was carried out in Awaday a small town located in Eastern Hararghe of Ethiopia. The study was designed to examine the situation of drinking water supply service to the society and inadequate drinking water supply service and efforts of municipality to alleviate the drinking water supply service problem of Awaday town. The descriptive survey method of research was used with primary and secondary data. The key informants interview, observation and document analysis data collection tools were used to support and triangulate the data collected by questionnaire which was the major tool of the study. According to the findings only 39.4 of the respondents had access to water either from house connection or from public tap water sources at short distance. Among these householders 15.3 % of them get daily access, but only 6.5 % of them were satisfied and considered as normal phenomena. Out of 86.5 % respondents who had water constraints 62.4 % did not know the causes of the constraints and interruption of the service and also 66.5 % of the respondents or their family members caught water born disease in the last two years. Local municipality and the government and community should cooperate together to alleviate the water supply service constraints of the town which has been a vital question of the majority of the residents for a long period.