How Ethiopia managed to supply water to 48 million people

The Ebo clean water project benefits 27, 000 people in seven villages including 15,000 school children, with clean water in their school and households. Young girls now can attend school regularly without spending more time looking for water. ©UNICEF Ethiopia/2015/Bizuwerk

Today, we’re celebrating something special in Ethiopia – reaching the water Goal 7c of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). What does this mean? Put simply, it means 57 percent of the country’s population now is drinking water from an improved water supply such as a tap or hand pump, rather than from an open stream. By drinking water from an improved water supply, Ethiopia has greatly improved the health of many women and children and has managed to cut under 5 child mortality by two-thirds and significantly reduce child stunting.

And why is it such a big achievement? Well in the base year of the MDGs (1990), only 6.9 million…