What determines the operational sustainability of rural drinking water points in Ethiopia? The case of Woliso woreda

Water is a fundamental element essential for life and health. However, more than 33.3% of rural water services in Ethiopia are not functioning and hence sustainability of rural drinking water points in the country is under question. With this in mind, this study was undertaken to investigate the factors that affect the operational sustainability of rural drinking water points in Woliso woreda, Ethiopia. A semi-structured questionnaire was administered to a randomly selected 211 households from six rural Kebeles, which were selected using stratified sampling technique. Focus group discussions and key interviews were also held along with observation. The quantitative data were analysed through descriptive statistics and binary logistic regression. The qualitative data were used to augment the results from the regression analysis. The results revealed that water service fee, willingness to pay, occurrence of conflict in the water points, monitoring by water user committees, willingness to sustain service, users' participation in the water point construction, satisfaction with the water point service, perception on the possibility of contamination, and training on maintenance are found to be significant factors that affect the operational sustainability of rural drinking water points. Therefore, these significant factors should be sufficiently addressed when planning water supply projects.