Reducing the cost of groundwater drilling in Ethiopia

In sub-Saharan Africa, 290 million people lack access to safe water supplies. One reason is the high cost of drilling and borehole construction. Even small savings could extend coverage to millions of people. How can Ethiopia and other African countries reduce drilling costs?

Research from the Water and Sanitation Program, based in Kenya, and the Rural Water Supply Network Secretariat in Switzerland, examines groundwater drilling costs in Ethiopia and sets out some ways they could be reduced.

The main reasons for high drilling costs in Ethiopia include:

• inappropriate borehole designs raise costs, for example, drilling deeper than necessary
• tenders for drilling works are often not cost-effective – they may involve very few boreholes and long distances between sites
• lack of knowledge and information about the country’s groundwater resources
• lack of training in important areas, including drilling, groundwater investigation and construction supervision
• boreholes which do not work, for example due to poor construction or inaccurate assessment of groundwater resources
• the costs of ‘doing business’ discourages private sector participation. There are several barriers to private sector participation, such as import restrictions and the need to obtain a government licence to operate as a drilling contractor.

To meet the Millennium Development Target 10, Ethiopia will need to provide 28 million more people with access to safe water, and will need an estimated 80,000 new boreholes by 2015. A cost saving of ten percent per borehole could result in reaching an extra two million people for the same investment.

Groundwater drilling costs in India are typically less than one tenth those in sub-Saharan Africa. Since the late 1970s, India has reduced the number of people without access to a safe water supply from 450 million to 140 million. Several important differences make comparisons between the Indian and Ethiopian cases difficult. For instance, Ethiopia has an underdeveloped manufacturing sector and challenging drilling conditions. However, the key success factors of India’s water programme included: government commitment, continuous investment from external support agencies, private sector involvement, and strong technical and management skills.

Changes to the drilling sector in Ethiopia will require committed involvement and participation of the public and private sectors, civil society and donors:

• The private sector should be supported through measures such as easing import procedures, assuring steady, sufficient work flow and training.
• The public sector needs to be technically competent, and fair and efficient in the way tenders and contracts are put together and managed.
• Sustainable operation and management of boreholes is essential. Key issues include financing and community participation.
• Multi-stakeholder working groups should be set up to address problems in the drilling sector. These need to include the public sector, contractors, donors, manufacturers and suppliers, and non-governmental organisations.

Source(s):
‘Ten-step Guide Towards Cost-effective Boreholes: Case Study of Drilling Costs in Ethiopia’, Rural Water Supply Series Field Note, WSP and RWSN, by Richard Carter, 2006 (PDF) Full document.

Funded by: Federal Ministry of Water Resources and Regional Water Bureaux, Ethiopia

id21 Research Highlight: 17 July 2007

Further Information:
Water and Sanitation Program - Africa
World Bank
Hill Park Building
Upper Hill Road
PO Box 30577
Nairobi
Kenya

Tel: +254 20 3226306
Fax: +254 20 3226386
Contact the contributor: wspaf@worldbank.org

Water and Sanitation Program - Africa

RWSN Secretariat
SKAT Foundation
Vadianstrasse 42
CH-9000 St Gallen
Switzerland

Tel: +41 71 2885454
Fax: +41 71 2885455
Contact the contributor: rwsn@skat.ch

Salvadoran Integral Assistance Foundation, El Salvador

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