by Steve Lussing

Created on: May 11, 2008

As the populations of Ethiopia and Kenya continue to grow, access to that most fundamental of all natural resources - water - is becoming ever more problematic. Ethiopian plans for irrigating 300,000 acres with water diverted from the Blue Nile will impact on nomadic and remote village populations. Today, there is already an enormous migration drive into Ethiopia's capital city, Addis Ababa.

The Addis Ababa City Water Sewerage Authority (AAWSA) is actively engaged in deep and medium water well drilling programs partly funded by the World Bank, but demand is increasing faster than the projects can keep up. Currently, only about 65% of the demands for potable water within the city are being met, with about 61% of households obtaining their water from public taps. But the city people have it well when compared with the rural population.

For the 4,000 villagers of Katchama, Ethiopia, the main source of local water is usually a nearby pond. The quality of the murky brown pond water deteriorates as it is gradually depleted. When the pond dries up, usually after only two or three weeks, the villagers must make a twelve-hour trek to the Awash River to fill their vessels. The perception among village officials is that the Ethiopian government is not doing enough to educate and instruct the villagers in how to dig their own ponds, much less install piped water.

Problems of water access are becoming more prevalent in upriver nations like Ethiopia and Kenya as more and more Nile River water is diverted for irrigation in the more developed countries downriver. Water issues in the region are not new. They have their roots in the early 1900's when pressure was put on Egypt and Sudan to increase their production of cotton, which was becoming in short supply worldwide.

The Nile Projects Commission was formed in 1920 to deal with the sharing of Nile River water by Egypt and Sudan, with participation by India, the United Kingdom, and the United States. The primary concern was whether control of the Nile River could be better managed upstream or down. The negotiations proceeded through many phases of conflict resolution eventually resulting in the Nile Waters Treaty of 1959.

Ethiopia was determined not to be left out of consideration altogether and in 1957 served notice that it intended to pursue its own program of development. This amounted to a legal claim to Nile water resources within its own territory. The conditions of the treaty are still being observed today, and international

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