Introduction

Water collection for domestic use can be traced back to 560 BC when rainwater harvesting was practised in the Axumite Kingdom. In those days, rainwater was collected and stored in ponds for agriculture and water supply purposes. Evidence for this is in documented literature and may be observed in visible remains of ponds (Seyoum, n.d.). The history of modern piped water supply in Ethiopia began in 1924 when a piped supply was established from the Kebena River to the patriarch’s compound and Menelik Hospital in Addis Ababa, using an 80-mm pipe. Until the inauguration of the Gefersa Dam in 1951 the town of Addis Ababa was supplied from wells and springs (AAWSA, 2011).