The Impact of Forest and Non-Forest Land Cover on Potable Water Treatment Costs

Research Brief
1 December 2019

Dawit W. Mulatu, Amare Fentie, Juha Siikamaki

Access to clean water is one of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) to be achieved by 2030, and a priority on the environmental policy agenda in Ethiopia. A main challenge for clean water supply utilities is how to accommodate watershed protection and management costs. The type of land cover around water sources has a notable effect on the cleanliness of the water and hence on water purifying costs.

We analysed the effect of forest cover and non-forest land cover on water treatment chemical costs at the watershed and upstream at difference distances. We found that forest cover both at the watershed and upstream has a significant effect on the cost of water purifying chemicals. As distance between the water source and the forest increases, the contribution to the reduction of treatment cost declines.

Topics
Country
Sustainable Development Goals

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Publication | 18 May 2020