Development of a Generic Domestic Water Security Index, and Its Application in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

Water security is a global concern because of the growing impact of human activities and climate change on water resources. Studies had been performed at global, country, and city level to assess the water security issues. However, assessment of water security at a domestic scale is lacking. This paper develops a new domestic water security assessment framework accounting for water supply, sanitation, and hygiene through twelve indicators. Water supply, sanitation, and hygiene are central to key water-related sustainable development goals. The framework is subsequently applied to the city of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. From the domestic water security assessment of Addis Ababa, the water supply dimension was found to be of good level, whereas the sanitation and hygiene dimensions were of poor and fair level, respectively, indicating both a challenge and an opportunity for development. Because the analysis is spatially explicit at the city-branch level (in Addis), variation in domestic water security performance across Addis Ababa can be assessed, allowing efficient targeting of scant resources (financial, technical, personnel). Analysis further shows that a lack of institutional capacity within the utility, existing infrastructure leading to ‘lock-in’ and hindering maintenance and upgrade initiatives, and an unreliable power supply are the main issues leading to poor domestic water security in the study city. These areas should be tackled to improve the current situation and mitigate future problems. The developed framework is generic enough to be applied to other urban and peri-urban areas, yet provides planners and policy makers with specific information on domestic water security considering water supply, sanitation and hygiene, and accounting for within-city variability. This work could therefore have practical applicability for water service providers.