The United States, through the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), partnered with DuPont Water Solutions and the Afar Regional State government to unveil a state-of-the-art reverse osmosis water system in the community of Serdo. U.S. Ambassador Michael A. Raynor and Afar Regional State President Awol Arba jointly inaugurated the new water system, which will provide the first-ever sustainable source of safe drinking water for more than 2,000 people in the area.

USAID’s Lowland Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) Activity, in collaboration with DuPont Water Solutions and the Afar Water and Irrigation Resource Development Bureau, installed a reverse osmosis water system featuring a standalone cooling tower—the first of its kind in Afar. The facility is designed to safely treat salinity, filter out impurities and harmful bacteria, and reduce the high temperature of the local groundwater making it safe to drink.

Over the past several years, the USAID Lowland WASH Activity has built 25 community water supply systems and rehabilitated an additional 91 water systems, providing access to safe drinking water for more than 200,000 Ethiopians in areas of the country where water is scarce. Under a unique partnership, DuPont provided funding for supplies and installation of the reverse osmosis and water-cooling equipment for the Serdo facility, and will promote the use of similar innovations in other parts of Ethiopia.

The United States is the largest bilateral donor in Ethiopia. U.S. development programs like the USAID Lowland WASH Activity invest in strengthening the capacity of local government and the Ethiopian people to address their own needs by helping communities better manage and use water resources. Over the past five years, the United States has provided approximately
$4 billion in development and humanitarian assistance to Ethiopia.