Consulting Terms of Reference Assessment For Solarizing Community Water Supply Systems – Tayah Consulting Plc
Consultancy and Training, Engineering
Tayah Consulting Plc
BACKGROUND
The technology of choice for providing water supply to rural communities, even in new government and donor-funded projects currently under development, continues to be diesel-powered pumps, which carry with them significant challenges including high diesel fuel costs, diesel shortages, the need to transport fuel, expensive maintenance, frequent breakdowns, and greenhouse gas emissions. At the same time, the price of solar panels has decreased dramatically over the last decade; today, solar is significantly cheaper than diesel, particularly for applications that require daily use but do not require batteries, such as solar water pumps. To ensure that communities can get reliable water at affordable costs, it is urgent to demonstrate to governments and donors that the technology of choice for rural community water supply should change from diesel to solar, both for retrofits and for new systems.
In Ethiopia, rural, off-grid communities have a history of paying the full cost of diesel fuel to pump drinking water. Communities collect a tariff (typically 2-3 Birr per 20-liter jerrycan) to cover the cost of fuel and operation and set aside a small amount for repairs. While this works well when the diesel generators are new, after 10 years of operation the maintenance costs become too large to be covered by the tariff, and systems suffer from increasingly frequent breakdowns. When this happens, households – most often women and school-age girls – must go back to walking to collect water at the nearest river, which can take up to two hours one way.
The Government of Ethiopia has outlined a comprehensive plan under Phase II of the One WASH National Programme (OWNP) that aims to increase water supply and sanitation access. This plan calls for the solarization of 6,352 water supply systems in rural, off-grid communities, including 4,000 systems in Oromia state and 500 systems in Amhara state. Currently, OWNP envisions that solar pumps will be provided to communities using donor funds. Given that community solar water pumps typically cost on the order of US $50,000 for communities with a population of 10,000 – 30,000 people, it may take many years to secure the $300 million in donor funding required to donate solar pump equipment.
Recognizing this, the Ministry of Water and Environment is interested to assess the viability of blended and/or private financing models for scale-up. Winrock’s Solarizing Community Water Supply project, funded by the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation, aims to test commercial models for replacement of diesel community water pumps with solar pumps. The project entails facilitating community contracts with private companies to solarize 10 diesel driven solar pumping systems in Amhara and Oromia regional states.
OBJECTIVE OF THE CONSULTING SERVICES
The project is seeking consulting services, with at least one woman on the team, to assess the hydrogeology, water supply infrastructure, water quality, water demand, and risks to water resources in a total of 15 community diesel water pump sites in East Haraghe and West Arsi Zones of Oromia state. Data generated by the consultant will inform the selection of 8 priority sites for replacement of diesel pumps with solar pumps; therefore, it is critical that the data is accurate and complete. The woredas under this assignment include Fedis, Kersa, Goro Gutu, and Deder (in East Hararghe) and Kofele, Arsi Negele, and Dodolla (in West Arsi).
For more and detailed information, please use the document linked below:
