THE FEDERAL DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF ETHIOPIA

MINISTRY OF WATER, IRRIGATION AND ELECTRICITY

TECHNICAL OPERATION AND

MAINTENANCE REQUIREMENTS FOR
RURAL PIPED SYSTEM
2

DEMEWOZ CONSULTANCY
P.O.BOX 20023 CODE 1000
ADDIS ABABA ETHIOPIA
TEL: +251-(0)118-60 80 12/0911-158613
E-mail: [email protected]
 TECHNICAL OPERATION AND MAINTENANCE
VOLUME – I REQUIREMENTS FOR RURAL PIPED SYSTEM

PART - A INTRODUCTION

PART- B WATER SOURCES FOR WATER SUPPLY

PART – C ELECTRO-MECHANICAL EQUIPMENT

PART – D TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION SYSTEM

PART – E SPARE PARTS SUPPLY AND MANAGEMENT

PART – F EQUIPMENT AND TOOLS MANAGEMENT MANUAL

PART – G LEAKAGE DETECTION AND CONTROL

PART – H FIXED ASSET INVENTORY

PART – I WATER QUALITY MONITORING AND SURVELLIANCE

Ministry of Water, Irrigation and Electricity`
Technical Operation and Maintenance Requirements Manual for Rural Piped
System

Technical Operation and Maintenance Requirements Manual for Rural

Piped System: PART – A: INTRODUCTION

Table of Contents
List of Tables i
List of Figures i
Acronyms ii
1 INTRODUCTION 1
1.1 General 1
1.2 The Manuals 2
1.3 On the Use of the Manual 3
1.4 Manual Organization 3
1.5 Objectives of Operation and Maintenance 5
1.6 Necessity of the Manuals 5
1.7 Definition of Operation and Maintenance 6
1.7.1 Operation 6
1.7.2 Maintenance 6
1.7.3 Consequences of Poor O&M 7
1.7.4 Causes of poor O&M 7
1.8 Requirements for Sustainable O&M 8
1.9 Rural Piped System 9
1.9.1 Definition 9
1.9.2 Special Features of RPS in Ethiopia 9
1.9.3 Configuration of Rural Piped System 9
1.10 Classification of Maintenance 10
1.10.1 Scheduled (Preventive Maintenance) 10
1.10.2 Un-scheduled (Breakdown) Maintenance 12
1.11 O&M at National Level 12
1.12 Who and How will use this Manual? 12
1.13 Dissemination of the Manual 13
1.14 Revision of the Manual 13
1.15 O&M AT NATIONAL LEVEL 14
References 15

List of Tables
Table 1-1: Elements of Preventive O&M 11

List of Figures
Figure 1-1: Water sources from rural area RPS distribution 10
Figure 1-2: Water sources from urban area RPS distribution 10

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Acronyms

CBMS Community Based Maintenance System

CBO Community Based Organization

CMP Community Managed Project

CSO Civil Society Organization

DFID Department for International Development (UK)

DAG Development Assistance Group

FGD Focus Group Discussion

GIS Geographical Information System

GTP Growth and Transformation Plan

IDA International Development Agency (WB)

JICA Japan International Cooperation Agency

ICB International Competitive Bidding

KDC Kebele Development Committee

LSP Local Service Provider

MDG Millennium Development Goal

M&E Monitoring & Evaluation

MIS Management Information System

MoE Ministry of Education

MFI Micro Finance Institution

MoWIE Ministry of Water, Irrigation & Electricity

NCB National Competitive Bidding

MVS Multi Village System

NGO Non-governmental Organization

NWI National WASH Inventory

O&M Operation & Maintenance

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OWNP One WASH National Program

PBT Pressure Break Tank

RPS Rural Piped System

RWCO Regional WaSH Coordination Office

SNV Netherlands Development Organization

SP Spare Part

TVETC Technical Vocational & Educational Training College

UAP Universal Access Plan

UNICEF United Nations Children's Fund

WASH Water Supply Sanitation and Hygiene

WAO Water Administration Office

WASHCO Water Supply Sanitation and Hygiene Committee

WDC Woreda Development Committee

WB World Bank

WIF WASH Implementation Framework

WSG Woreda Support Group

WUG Water User Group

WWO Woreda Water Office

WWT Woreda WASH Team

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DEFINITIONS OF TERMS:

Accessibility Is having a functional and reliable water supply facility without any barriers
within a radius of 1500 metres for Rural Water Supply
Access Coverage Is the percentage of people with access to safe, adequate and reliable water
supply within 1500m at 15 l/c/d for rural community
Adequate Water Is the quantity of water required to meet the minimum demand per capita per
day. The standard being 15l/capita/day by 2015 for Rural people
Borehole Depth The term “shallow” in Ethiopia is used to refer to a borehole up to about 60m
in depth; “medium” depth refers to 60-150m; “deep” boreholes are drilled up
to about 450m
Community Refers to a group of people living in a designated area who share residential
and developmental challenges and benefits. It may also refer to all people
sharing such challenges and benefit regardless of geographical and social
boundaries
Community Based Is the process of empowering community members to assume the lead role
Management in decision making about the levels of services they require, whilst
organizing themselves to plan, implement, operate and maintain their water
supply and sanitation facilities.
Community Management Is a form of community participation in which the community takes the final
decision on all aspects of planning, implementation, management,
monitoring, evaluation, O&M of the water supply facility
Evaluation Is the periodic and systematic review and analysis of a practice to determine
the relevance, effectiveness, efficiency and impact of programmes/projects
compared to the set objectives
Functionality The term functionality refers to the number or percentage of
working/operational rural water supply schemes out of the total number of
rural water supply schemes constructed at any given period.
Kebele/Tabia Is the lowest administration unit in the Ethiopian government’s
administrational hierarchy
Maintenance Refers to activities required to sustain the water supply facilities in a proper
working condition. It includes preventive maintenance, corrective
maintenance and crisis maintenance.
Monitoring Is the regular and continuous checking of whether plans, activities and
situations are being implemented as planned, and includes the provision of
feedback to facilitate the taking of corrective measures by relevant
stakeholders.
Operation Operation refers to the routine activities necessary to make the system
function
Point Water Supply In rural water supply context, these are hand dug wells, shallow wells, on-
spot springs types of schemes
Preventive Maintenance Refers to an activity that includes checking the status of hand pump
components at regular fixed intervals
Rehabilitation Is the correction of major defects and the replacement of equipment to
enable the facility to function as originally intended.
Reliable Water Supply Is the supply of water on a continuous basis meeting the minimum demand
per capita per day

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Repair It is the restoration of a defective component to return the facility to

acceptable working condition. The cost of the repair should be borne by the
community.
Rural Area “Areas of population outside urban and peri-urban using point or surface
water sources for which the community is responsible for the O&M”. in
addition, low population densities characterize rural areas, with small houses
isolated from each other.
Rural Piped System It is a water supply system feeding various villages and small towns by
gravity, pumping and a combination system through public taps and yard
connections
Safe water Is water that is free from harmful quantities of physical, chemical and
pathogenic matter and that meets the minimum Ethiopian standards (usually
WHO Guidelines)
Seed Money Is the initial sum of money disbursed to an organization in order to
create/start a revolving fund for undertaking a designated programme
Scheme (Water) The entire facility (concrete works, pipes, pumps) established to extract
water from a water source, and distribute it to (close to) people’s homes
Sustainable Supply Is a system of procuring and supplying spare parts that guarantees a
Chain continuous supply of spare parts

Source (Water) The natural water source only, i.e. spring, groundwater, river, etc
Supply chains Is the term used for the process that relates all activities involved with the
flow and transformation of goods from the raw materials stage through to the
end-user, as well as the associated information flows
WASHCO It is a committee of representatives from a number of Water, sanitation and
hygiene Point Committee of the same village. Sometimes WASHCO
committee may refer to 2 or more village representatives benefitting from a
water and sanitation point.
Woreda It is the lowest administration unit (next to Kebele), in the Ethiopian
government’s administrational hierarchy.

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1 INTRODUCTION

1.1 General

Rural water supply service delivery is shifting more and more towards piped water supply
schemes as a result of improving standards of living and increase aspirations of the rural
population. Where local water sources are scarce or not fit for drinking due to poor water
quality, the most common option left is to bring in water from an outside source. If this
source is far away or very deep, then economies of scale dictate that more than one
village be served by the same system.

Thus, this RPS which crosses villages, Woredas, Zones and even regions required well
organized and systematic operation and maintenance management to ensure the
sustainability of the service.

The objective of an efficient operation and maintenance management of a water supply

system is to provide safe drinking water as per designed quality and quantity, with
adequate pressure at convenient location and time at competitive cost on a sustainable
basis.

It has been observed that lack of attention to the important aspect of Operation &
Maintenance (O&M) of water supply schemes in several small towns and villages often
leads to their dysfunction or deterioration of the useful life of the systems necessitating
premature replacement of many components, incurring huge losses. As such even after
creating such assets by investing Millions of Birr, they failed to provide the proper services
effectively to the community for which they have been constructed and became
dysfunctional or remained underutilized most of the time.

Some of the key issues contributing to the poor Operation & Maintenance (O&M) have
been identified during the assessment as follows:
 Lack of finance, equipment, material, and inadequate data on Operation &
Maintenance;
 Inappropriate system design; and inadequate Workmanship;
 Inadequate operating staff;
 Illegal tapping of water;
 Inadequate training of personnel;
 Lesser attraction of maintenance jobs in carrier planning;
 Lack of performance evaluation and regular monitoring;
 Inadequate emphasis on preventive maintenance;
 Lack of O & M manual;
 Lack of real time field information etc.
Therefore, there is a need for clear–cut sector policies and legal framework and a clear
demarcation of responsibilities and mandates for O & M of water supply schemes.

Governments, external support agencies and communities are recognizing the importance
of integrating O&M components in all development phases of water supply projects,
including the planning, implementation, management, and monitoring phases. The

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Federal Ministry of Water, irrigation and Electricity plays a vital role in creating an
“enabling environment” within which an O&M policy framework can be developed, one of
the key elements of sustainability.

Government can foster such an environment in a number of ways, including through legal
provisions, regulations, education initiatives and training programmes, and by
communicating information. If supportive O&M policy is not forthcoming from the federal
government, then support for O&M at the local level will be hindered. An important role of
local government is to promote an awareness of national policies and to support
community water-user committees. Both the project staff and the recipient communities
should be made aware of the O&M implications, as the communities themselves have
responsibilities in the management and O&M of their water-supply and sanitation systems.
However, many Woreda Water Offices have insufficient resources and are unable to
provide effective support.

The roles and responsibilities of the actors involved in O&M need to be well defined,
especially where governments are shifting from their traditional role as a services provider
to that of a facilitator of service provision.

According to the One WASH National Program (OWNP), high priority has been given to
capacity building in O&M for both rural and urban water supply and sanitation. This should
initially focus on addressing the significant number of rural piped water schemes which
appear to have been constructed without sufficient community and woreda involvement
and ownership and which now have serious operational and O&M problems. It is stated in
the document that appropriate and sustainable solutions should be identified so that
communities have access to affordable spare parts and maintenance services within a
reasonable distance, preferably by the private sector.

The OWNP plan proposed allocated budget for maintenance support is about 22 Million
USD while for rehabilitation and expansion is about 96 Million USD. This shows that
attention is given for O&M on the existing schemes. It is also proposed to construct 1,828
rural piped systems in 2015 in addition to the existing schemes. So, the developing of
these manuals is timely.

Thus, the various topics of the O&M management manuals uses as guiding tools to
resolve the above mentioned constraints.

1.2 The Manuals

This RURAL PIPED SYSTEM AND PASTORAL AREAS WATER SUPPLY OPERATION
AND MAINTENANCE MANUAL is the second manual next to the O&M management
manual developed for point water sources, prepared for the use of prospective and actual
owners /communities, water boards / WASHCOs, operators, Woreda and Zone Water
Offices, Regional Water Bureaus and Federal Ministry of Water, irrigation and Electricity.

Its purpose is to introduce the institutional models available and the legal requirements
that apply to RPSs; the operational and maintenance principles and issues relating to
water supply; and the management principles and good practices that must be adopted in
order to attain viability and sustainability in the RPS business. Hopefully, the Manuals will
facilitate the work of the professional managers and staff engaged in running the water
administration by putting in their hands a ready resource reference for their everyday use.
For those who are new or less exposed to the demands of the RPS business – including
those who sit as board members of community based organizations as well as those in
Woreda and NGOs who have joined the efforts to ensure safe water for the communities
they serve – hopefully it will be an aid in understanding the institutional, operational,

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financial, and management issues involved, and thus enable them to participate more
effectively in advancing the objectives of the water sector.

Overall, the local and international partners (especially the Government of Finland and
COWASH) who cooperated in making these Manuals possible hope that they will help the
participants in the rural water supply sector to understand better the nature of the water
supply business, its responsibilities to the stakeholders, and the role of the government
agencies and regulatory bodies that seek to help them operate sustainably while
protecting the consumers.

1.3 On the Use of the Manual

This RPS OPERATION AND MAINTENANCE MANUAL and the companion volumes and
parts in the series can at best serve as a general reference and guide. As they refer to the
information, recommendations, and guidelines contained in them, readers are urged to
consider them always in relation to their own specific requirements, adapting and applying
them within the context of their actual situation.

Even as they refer to this Manual for information, its users are advised to consult with
qualified professionals – whether in the private sector, in the Zone or Woreda Water
Offices, or in the regulatory and developmental agencies concerned with the water sector
– who have had actual experience in the construction, management, operation,
maintenance, and servicing of water supply systems and RPS – including those other
professionals who can help them in the financial, legal and other aspects of their RPS
business.

1.4 Manual Organization

The entire manual of the Rural Piped System and Pastoral area Water Supply
Technologies has three volumes and 21 parts. Moreover the consultancy assignment has
made assessment in all regions and prepared Assessment Report.

The three volumes in this series of the OPERATION AND MAINTENACE MANUALS are
as follows:
TECHNICAL OPERATION AND MAINTENANCE REQUIREMENTS
VOLUME – I FOR RURAL PIPED SYSTEM
PART - A INTRODUCTION

PART- B WATER SOURCES FOR WATER SUPPLY

PART – C ELECTRO-MECHANICAL EQUIPMENT
PART – D TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION SYSTEM

PART – E SPARE PARTS SUPPLY AND MANAGEMENT

PART – F EQUIPMENT ANDTOOLS MANAGEMENT MANUAL
PART – G LEAKAGE DETECTION AND CONTROL
PART – H FIXED ASSET INVENTORY
This Volume – I of the manual contain 9 different technical parts that considered as the
requirements of operation and maintenance for rural piped system. In fact this technical
O&M requirements can also use by the urban Water Utilities. Rural Piped System
Executive Water Boards / WASHCOs, Water Administration Offices / The Operators use
these manuals.
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VOLUME – II: MANAGEMENT REQUIREMENTS FOR O&M OF RURAL PIPED

SYSTEM

This second volume of the manuals focuses mainly on scheme management, human
resources requirements, Monitoring & Evaluation, Management Information System and
Reports. It has 4 parts as mentioned below.
MANAGEMENT REQUIREMENTS FOR OPERATION AND
VOLUME – II MAINTENANCE OF RURAL PIPED SYSTEM

PART- A FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT

PART – B COMMUNITY BASED SCHEME MANAGEMENT

PART – C MONITORING & EVALUATION, MIS AND REPORT

REQUIREMENTS
PART – D HUMAN POWER AND CAPACITY BUILDING REQUIREMENTS

This volume presents the considerations and requirements of community based

management of rural piped system, mainly by Executive Water Board for large RPS
schemes and WASHCOs for small RPS. Large RPS managed by recruited operators
called Water Administration Office, whose human powers as well as capacity building
needed are well described in the manual. Monitoring and evaluating of this office by EWB
and in turn by regional Water Bureau’s, Zone and Woreda Water Office requirement is
elaborated. On top of that the report requirements by different actors are also described in
the manual.

VOLUME – III: O&M REQUIREMENTS FOR PASTORAL AREAS WATER SUPPLY

TECHNOLOGIES
INTRODUCTION TO PASTORAL WATER SUPPLY
PART – A
TECHNOLOGIES
PART – B SAND/SUBSURFACE DAM
PART – C HAFIR DAM AND BERKAD
PART – D ROOFTOP AND ROCK CATCHMENT RAIN WATER HARVESTING
PART – E SOLAR POWERED PUMPING SYSTEM
PART – F WINDPOWERED PUMPING SYSTEM
PART – G FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT
PART – H COMMUNITY BASED MANAGEMENT
This Volume –III of the manual has eight parts which focused on the pastoral areas water
supply technologies. The scheme community based and financial management system is
similar with the management provided for rural piped system. Those pastoral area water
supply technologies are also possible to apply for the highland water supply systems like
rainwater harvesting.

Apart from these 3 volumes of the manuals, the following guidelines and documents are
also prepared:

 Guideline for Preparation of Business Plan for RPS,

 Developing Operation and Maintenance Strategic Framework

 Developing Training Materials for WASHCO’s

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1.5 Objectives of Operation and Maintenance

The Manual on Operation and Maintenance is intended to serve as a guide to

strengthening the technical, operational and managerial capabilities required of the
concerned personal to operate and maintain water supply services as per acceptable
norms of quantity, quality, sustainability, reliability and cost.

The manual also helps to:-

 Identifying human, equipment and material resources required to ensure operation
and maintenance of the systems.
 Creating know-how of scheme and financial management by water boards and
WASHCOs
 Prepare detailed schedule for operation and maintenance activities.
 To give clear procedure and tact of operation and maintenance.
The core objective in ensuring the sustainability of the schemes through proper O&M
management of the schemes, so the water supply service can be sustainable if:
 It functions and is being used;
 It is able to deliver an appropriate level of benefits (quality, quantity, convenience,
comfort, continuity, affordability, efficiency, reliability, equity, health);
 It continuous over a prolonged period of time (which goes beyond the life-cycle of the
equipment);
 Its management is institutionalized (community management, gender perspective,
partnership with local authorities, involvement of formal/informal private sector);
 Its operation, maintenance and administrative and replacement costs are covered by
itself;
 It can be operated and maintained by the Water Administration Office with limited
external support like technical assistance, training and monitoring.
 It does not affect the environment negatively.
Hence, in order to make a system sustainable, at least it requires the consideration and
the achievement of the above issues, which is a long process.

1.6 Necessity of the Manuals

The Manual on Operation and Maintenance is a long felt need of the Rural piped system
and pastoral areas water supply technologies.

The Necessity of developing these O&M manuals is due:

 There is neither national guideline nor generic O&M Management of the Points Water
System or RPS, to answer water resources development policy says,
 There is no O&MM supportive functional organizational structure of MoWIE, to
oversee and interpret whenever necessary at least in overall policy or regulatory
terms,
 There is no uniform implementation/ institutional arrangement on how the rural water
supply systems are managed,

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 The WASHCOs (*1) or the caretakers are not able to make major maintenance & they
mainly rely on Woreda Water Office and regional Water Bureaus support for O&MM,
 Woreda Water Offices and Water Boards / WASHCOs do not have the required
equipment, technical guidelines, budget and trained human resource to give the
required service to the community,
 The level of technical support required by WASHCO from Woredas, Zonal offices and
local private operators has not been identified,
 The support from Woreda /Zonal office is not planned and is rather based on
breakage reports, and repairs are usually not carried out in time,
 There is no planned and timely preventive maintenance carried out by
WASHCOs/Woredas/zonal offices and on the other hand no enabling environment is
created for WASHCO to get support from private local service providers,
 O&MM cost recovery principle of rural water supply is somewhat misinterpreted.
Although the government has assigned staff for O&MM at Regional, Zonal and
Woreda level (2-3 people) the budget allocated for O&M and monitoring the status of
schemes is insufficient at all levels,
At present, there is no comprehensive manual on this subject to benefit the field personnel
and to help the O& M authorities to prepare their own specific manuals suitable to their
organizations/ schemes.

As per the Water Resources Management Policy and Regional proclamations, all the rural
water supply schemes are to be operated and maintained by local bodies (Woredas and
Communities), therefore, this operation and maintenance manual has been prepared to
facilitate/institutionalize the operation and maintenance system of rural water supply
schemes.

1.7 Definition of Operation and Maintenance

1.7.1 Operation

Operation refers to the routine activities necessary to make the system function. The
proper operation of a scheme results in its optimum use and contributes to a reduction in
breakdowns and maintenance needs.

This involves the correct handling of facilities by the user communities for long use of
components of the facilities.

1.7.2 Maintenance

Maintenance refers to periodic inspection, replacement or repairs the damaged parts,

cleaning of filters etc. Maintenance can be divided into two types: 1) Preventive
maintenance (Planned maintenance), 2) Corrective maintenance (breakdown
maintenance) and 3) crisis maintenance (unplanned maintenance).

Preventive maintenance refers to systematic pre-scheduled activities or programmes of

inspections and maintenance activities aimed at the early detection of defects and
implementation of actions to avoid breakdowns or deterioration. Preventive maintenance
is 'pre active' since activities are conducted before a defect occurs. Often the cost of

*
WASHCO can be also a “Board” in case of multi-village schemes or large rural piped schemes.

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preventive maintenance activities is low compared with corrective maintenance or

rehabilitation.

Corrective maintenance refers to activities conducted or repairs carried out as a result of

breakdowns or noticeable infrastructure deterioration. Corrective maintenance is
inherently 'reactive' in that it is carried out after some defect is discerned, often because
the system is not operating as intended.

Crisis maintenance: unplanned responses to emergency breakdowns and user

complaints to restore a failed supply.

Rehabilitation: entails the correction of major defects and the replacement of equipment
to enable the facility to function as originally intended. Rehabilitation becomes necessary
when it is no longer technically feasible or economically viable to maintain a facility in
good working order. Maintenance will become uneconomic if the long term cost of
rehabilitation and subsequent operation is more favorable than continued repair and
maintenance.

1.7.3 Consequences of Poor O&M

It was learnt during the assessment part of this project, 0 & M is not given enough
attention and instances of poor operation and maintenance practices have in many
occasions largely contributed to:
 decreased quality of the produced drinking water,
 many interruptions of supply and reduction in reliability,
 reduction in lifetime of the various facilities which could lead already in the near future
to high rehabilitation cost,
 reduction of sustainability,
 water wastage by many leaks,
 lack of consumer's confidence and resistance for water use,
 Reduction of willingness to pay water bills and consequently less income for the water
supply service office.

1.7.4 Causes of poor O&M

Causes of insufficient O&M, which may be attributed to different management levels

within the organization, as undertaking's top level management and executive staff, are:

 Lack of sufficient funds for operation and especially maintenance activities:

 O&M cost is partly subsidized and has to be substantially covered by revenue
collection, which is mostly disappointing, because the billing/collection- ratio is 100%
and low water rates that are politically stipulated. Lack of service is generally leading
to reduced consumer payments.

 lack of knowledge how to organize proper maintenance:

 Inappropriate staffing of the Water Administration Office due to a combination of
staff limitations (financial reasons), and inflexible employment agreements
(political reasons), Transfer officers from other posting is not so easy too.

 lack of know-how and skilled personnel

 Inexpert use of facilities has to prevent,

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 Frequently not sufficient training facilities for off - and on- the job training are
present.

 Lack of information exchange between engineers and operators, e.g. regarding the
background of given instructions,

 lack of basic means and "tools" for performing proper operation and especially
preventive maintenance (e.g. 0 & M manuals, standard procedures, logistical
support),

 lack of available, stored spare parts and long delivery times, lack of tools and
equipment,

 Sub-standard quality of various materials and equipment ( e.g. taps, valves,

meters, fittings, Gaskets), causing frequently expensive and time consuming repairs
and/or replacements. One of the reasons that cheap, inferior parts are used lays in
the tendering procedure in which mostly the cheapest contractor is awarded. The
use of inferior materials has also a negative effect on the motivation of staff involved.

 Adequate procedures for commissioning of schemes are mostly lacking. Due to

initial defectives O&M suffers already from the beginning.

 Sometimes the organization of the water supply undertaking is not well tailored to
O&M activities, maybe due to lower priority of O&M within the undertaking. The
concept of being "consumer friendly" is often poorly developed and the number of
contacts between supplier and client are restricted.

 Responsible officers and operators are not motivated, or are not aware of the
importance of O&M, may have other personal interests, or are so occupied with the
day to day administrative duties that less time for O&M activities remains.

The O&M responsibilities and duties are generally not considered to be attractive or
give job satisfaction, due to poor salaries and lack of incentives, encouraging and
interest of superiors, logistical support or career possibilities.

1.8 Requirements for Sustainable O&M

In these Manuals, CBM shall be widely endorsed as the essential component of a

sustainable O&M approach, with the following being in place:

 Skills: Capacity building of communities to ensure that they are effective in their
participation at the various stages of the RWS programmes. Considerable investment
should be made in terms of time and funding to effectively carry out capacity building
initiatives.

 Awareness: User communities’ appreciation of the advantages of reliable and

adequate safe water supply. This will see the manifestation of economic and social
benefits and improvement in their health status. This is achieved through public
campaigns.

 Availability of spare parts: The necessary materials and equipment should easily be
available for communities to keep the systems operational using the skills imparted
during the capacity building process. Sustainable supply chains should be established
at the Woreda level for providing necessary spare parts and materials at a reasonable
market price.

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 Adequate fundraising by communities: Community financing towards O&M

activities at the community level should be developed and enhanced. This should
include accurate cost determination of O&M for different available technologies.

 Making funds available for O&M: Identification and facilitation of income generating
activities will have to be undertaken by the Government and support agencies. The
establishment of loan schemes could be a bridge towards community financial
independence in effectively managing their RWS systems.

 Legal provisions: Appropriate legal provisions such as statutory instruments, by-

laws, regulations and other similar initiatives should be introduced. This will prompt
communities to be committed and to establish clear ownership of the facilities. Local
Woredas may have to formulate by-laws to enforce these Manuals.

 Monitoring and evaluation: There should be effective monitoring of the entire set up
of the O&M systems to ensure sustainable O&M is achieved.

 Mechanism of quality control: Mechanisms should be developed that will ensure

good workmanship of the water supply installations. Poor workmanship is a recipe for
failure of efficient and effective O&M systems.

1.9 Rural Piped System

1.9.1 Definition

It is defined as it is a water supply system which serves more than one rural village and
small towns in combination from a single source or combination of sources; with gravity or
pumping or combination system; with a distribution system that is managed by elected
community representatives and operated by recruited scheme operators (local service
providers).

1.9.2 Special Features of RPS in Ethiopia

RPS schemes in Ethiopian context are distinguished through the following characteristics:
 One source supplies several rural villages and possibly one or more small towns,
 The source is located far away from the users and their villages,
 The systems have large installations such as head works, pumping stations, long
transmission lines, service reservoir, distribution system, water points and
connections,
 Users are organized to form an association and select representatives to ensure
effective oversight of the scheme,
The management of the scheme requires professional operator.

1.9.3 Configuration of Rural Piped System

Two different types of RPS configuration predominately exist. These are presented in
Figure 1.1 and 1.2. Figure 1.1 is showing the water sources are mainly from the rural
area, like that of Robe-Melliyu and Hetosa, which feeds the various villages and end to the
urban areas. The other one is the sources belongs to urban area like dams and deep
boreholes, which mainly feed to the urban community and extended to the various nearby
villages as presented in Figure 1.2.

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Figure 1-1: Water sources from rural area RPS distribution

Figure 1-2: Water sources from urban area RPS distribution

The two systems are totally having different service delivery models. The former one is
fully managed by community elected management bodies, while the later, delivery the
service by urban water utility. This report focuses on the community managed rural piped
system.

1.10 Classification of Maintenance

1.10.1 Scheduled (Preventive Maintenance)

It may be defined as the care and servicing by individuals involved with maintenance to
keep equipment/facilities in satisfactory operational state by providing for systematic
inspection, detection, and correction of incipient failures either prior to their occurrence or
prior to their development into major failure.

a) Objectives of POM are to:

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 enhance capital equipment productive life,

 reduce critical equipment breakdowns,
 allow better planning and scheduling of needed maintenance work,
 minimize production losses due to equipment failures, and
 promote health and safety of maintenance personnel
The most important principle to keep continuous management support is: “If it is not going
to save money, then don’t do it!”

b) Elements of Preventive Operation and Maintenance (POM):

The following are the list of elements of preventive operation and maintenance.

Table 1-1: Elements of Preventive O&M

No Elements Description
1 Inspection Periodically inspecting materials/items to determine their
serviceability by comparing their physical, electrical, mechanical,
etc., characteristics (as applicable) to expected
standards
2 Servicing Cleaning, lubricating, charging, preservation, etc., of
items/materials periodically to prevent the occurrence of incipient
failures
3 Calibration Periodically determining the value of characteristics of an item by
comparison to a standard; it consists of the comparison of two
instruments, one of which is certified
standard with known accuracy, to detect and adjust any
discrepancy in the accuracy of the material/parameter being
compared to the established standard value
4 Testing Periodically testing or checking out to determine serviceability and
detect electrical/mechanical-related degradation
5 Alignment Making changes to an item’s specified variable elements for the
purpose of achieving optimum performance
6 Adjustment Periodically adjusting specified variable elements of material for
the purpose of achieving the optimum system performance
7 Replacement Periodic replacement of limited-life items or the items
experiencing time cycle or wear degradation, to maintain the
specified system tolerance

c) Items necessary for effective POM program:

 accurate historical records of equipment,
 manufacturer’s recommendations,
 skilled personnel,
 past data from similar equipment,
 service manuals,
 unique identification of all equipment,
 appropriate test instruments and tools,

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 management support and user cooperation,

 failure information by problem/cause/action,
 consumables and replaceable components/parts, and
 Clearly written instructions with a checklist to be signed off.

1.10.2 Un-scheduled (Breakdown) Maintenance

Un-scheduled maintenance helps in preventing breakdown of equipment but totally

avoiding is impractical. Some failures could not be identified easily but needs fault tracing
and correction in other words trouble shooting. Repairing the failed part cannot be a full
solution to the problem as long as reasons of failure are not known. Knowing the exact
problem will assist in preventing repetitive failures. As in all repairs and maintenance
activities, correct procedures must be followed in repairing break downs. These
procedures must be followed in repairing break downs. These procedures include testing
by instruments, trouble shooting or any other means but the manufacturer maintenance
manual is the best reference to follow correct repair procedures.

1.11 O&M at National Level

The Ministry of Water, irrigation and Electricity (MoWIE) is the lead institution that shall
ensure that O&M of RWSS facilities is sustainable. The roles and responsibilities of the
Ministry shall be to:

 Provide policy direction and co-ordinate RWSS sector programmes and support
agencies, as well as all sector stakeholders.

 Manage and disseminate RWSS information including the use of advocacy.

 Invest in sectoral planning, development and construction of RWSS infrastructure.

 Establish standards, guidelines and inspectorates to monitor the effectiveness of the

RWSS O&M system.

 Promote private sector participation in O&M of RWSS facilities in liaison with line
ministry involved in RWSS.

 Monitor the supply chain links for spare parts in liaison with line ministries involved in
imports and export of goods to ensure timely deliveries.

 Undertake formation and reviews of policies and their enforcement.

 Facilitate training and capacity building within the RWSS sector at the national,
regional, woreda, kebele and community levels.

The MoWIE will employ an O&M unit staff to oversee the implementation of O&M activities
under Water Supply and Sanitation Directorate.

1.12 Who and How will use this Manual?

This manual is intended primarily for the Water Boards / WASHCOs, Water Administration
Offices / Operators in charge of the operation and maintenance of the Rural Piped System
of water supply schemes. In addition it is also a useful tool for Ministry of Water, irrigation
and Electricity, Regional Water Bureaus, Zone and Woreda Water Offices, supporting

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organizations and relevant stakeholders to support, monitor and evaluate the plan and
implementation of the O&M functions to achieve its objective stipulated above.

1.13 Dissemination of the Manual

These manuals are developed by the initiative of the Ministry of Water, irrigation and
Electricity (MoWIE) with the financial and technical support of the Finland Government
and COWASH. Thus, the manuals will be disseminating to all stakeholders involved in
Rural Piped System stakeholders.

The MoWIE will disseminate to the Regional Water Bureaus: The RWBs in turn will
distribute to the Zone and Woreda Water Offices. The Zone or Woreda Water Offices will
distribute to the respective rural piped system Water Administration Office and
WASHCOs.

Secondly, the MoWIE will disseminate these manuals to the relevant development
partners (World Bank, African Development Bank, DFID, UNICEF) and various NGOs like
Water Aid, Action Aid, Water Action, Plan International, SNV, International Rescue
Committee, REST, ORDA, ODA and other unmentioned relevant stakeholders.

1.14 Revision of the Manual

These manuals tried to cover all the necessary topics Operation and Maintenance
Management of scheme components that demanding in rural piped system, however, due
to the various technological upgrading, they can me revised and updated. Hence,
periodical updating the technical manual is mandatory so as to fit the technical issue
overlooked and to suite to the particular nature of the system for the RPS. Hence, the
Water Board / WASHCOs in consultation with MoWIE and Regional Water Bureau, shall
update its manual so as to suit the operation and maintenance activities and achieve the
following three basic measuring gauges:

 Less costly

 Prompt

 Better service or quality

Updating can be made to these manuals due to the following reasons.

o Update the tasks and responsibilities listed in this manual so as to include new
installations or exact recommendation of manufacturers.
o Update the maintenance management system as per the realistic path.
o Update the procedures for procurement and store keeping meeting the service
scope.
o Update the system components in the manual to suit the prevailing water supply
system components.
Updating of the Operation and Maintenance manual by RPS Water Administration Office
shall strictly comply with the arrangements of the available components stipulated in the
drawing (sketches) with all the information about the scheme components described. In
other words preparation of RPS specific Operation and Maintenance follows preparation
of sketches most preferably GIS based drawings with all the required geographical,
physical and capacity related etc. information included.

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1.15 O&M AT NATIONAL LEVEL

The Ministry of Water, irrigation and Electricity is the lead institution that shall ensure that
O&M of RWSS facilities is sustainable. The roles and responsibilities of the Ministry shall
be to:

 Provide policy direction and co-ordinate RWSS sector programmes and support
agencies, as well as all sector stakeholders.

 Manage and disseminate RWSS information including the use of advocacy.

 Invest in sectoral planning, development and construction of RWSS infrastructure.

 Establish standards, guidelines and inspectorates to monitor the effectiveness of the

RWSS O&M system.

 Promote private sector participation in O&M of RWSS facilities in liaison with line
Ministry involved in RWSS.

 Monitor the supply chain links for spare parts in liaison with line ministries involved in
imports and export of goods to ensure timely deliveries.

 Undertake formation and reviews of policies and their enforcement.

 Facilitate training and capacity building within the RWSS sector at the national,
Regional, Woreda, Kebele and community levels.

The MoWIE will establish an O&M section to oversee the implementation of O&M
activities.

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References

References for each of the manuals are specified in each topics of the manuals.

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