SDG 6 and the water benefits from WellMapr™
12/06/2026
Basic contexts – about the Ethiopian people
| Millions of People | Citation | |||||
| 120 | 1) | |||||
| 80% in agriculture | 80.0% | 96 | 2) | |||
| 74% are on small farms | 74.0% | 71 | 3) | |||
| 67% of small farms are below the poverty line | 67.0% | 48 | 4) | |||
| 61.5% of the population are 24yrs or younger | 61.5% | 29 | 5) | |||
| 32.8% of rural people carry water, when a well is unavailable | 32.8% | 31 | 1) | |||
1) Worldometers.info website 2021 data
2) IFAD https://www.ifad.org/en/web/operations/w/country/ethiopia
3) World Bank & Borgen Proejct https://borgenproject.org/smallholder-farmers-in-ethiopia/
4) Farm Africa website https://www.farmafrica.org/ethiopia/ethiopia also World Bank & Borgen Proejct https://borgenproject.org/smallholder-farmers-in-ethiopia/
5) PopulationPyramid.net https://www.populationpyramid.net/ethiopia/2020/
SDG 6 calls for Water and Sanitation, which in this case means drinking water wells and shallow wells and other soil water strategies when needed. SDG 6 exceptionally supports 9 other SDGs, for small farmers:
1 No Poverty
Surplus food (see SDG 2), can be sold at the market, moving farmers from subsistence to cash economy. The term cash crop surplus is key. This opens up life choices and family choices, for example, paying for education, improving reproductive choice, reducing the necessity for a high birth rate, and reducing the need for urban or transboundary migration, to find jobs and food (1), (2), (3).
2 Zero Hunger
Irrigation from a water well doubles (x2) or even triples (x3) food supply immediately. Our WellMapr can also show the absence of shallow water, where other soil water conservation strategies can successfully mitigate drought. It can be used for “managed aquifer recharge”. Ethiopia has 120,000 square kilometres that can be used for shallow wells, but less than 5% is currently used (1), (2), (3), (8).
3 Good Health & Well Being
Clean drinking water from a well, reduces 60-80% of gut infections, normally resulting from drinking river or lake water (4).
4 Quality Education
Women and children no longer have to lug water for up to 6 hours every day, and the time saved can be spent on education (5), (6).
5 Gender Equality
Women have more time for self-improvement, including running stalls at the local market and managing the family cash (6).
8 Decent Work & Economic Growth
Significantly increased crop growth means more work on small farms, tending & harvesting crops, especially for youth (2), (10), (11).
9 Industry, Innovation, & Infrastructure
Large excess quantities of food could be canned, dried, salted, bagged, and marketed (11) in small industrial units.
13 Climate Action
Increased soil carbon in root mass, due to better soil water management, will significantly sequester atmospheric CO2 (9), at a rate of x2 or x3 (in lock step with increased crop yields). One unit of organic soil carbon holds 40 units of water.
16 Peace Justice & Strong Institutions
Improved crop outcomes can lead to farm jobs, and potentially food marketing jobs, and even light food processing jobs, which in turn contributes towards peace. Male youth, thus occupied are essentially well occupied, versus being jobless and prone to other means of survival which may be nefarious (3), (10) and damage the national institutions.
Citations
1) Groundwater resource potential and status of groundwater resource development in Ethiopia. (2019) https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10040-019-01928-x
2) Food Security through Small Scale Irrigation: Case Study from Northern Ethiopia 2013: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/272796137_Food_Security_through_Small_Scale_Irrigation_Case_Study_from_Northern_Ethiopia
3) Prevalence of undernourishment (% of population) – in Ethiopia (2023)
https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SN.ITK.DEFC.ZS?locations=ET
4) Prevalence and Associated Risk Factors of Intestinal Parasites and Enteric Bacterial Infections among Selected Region Food Handlers of Ethiopia during (2014–2022)
5) Collection time inequalities: fetching water in Ethiopia A. Cassivi, 41st WEDC International Conference, (2018)
6) Water to Thrive, Why Has the Global Water Crisis Disproportionately Impacted Women in Ethiopia ? (2018) https://www.watertothrive.org/why-has-the-global-water-crisis-disproportionately-impacted-women-in-ethiopia
7) The 4 per 1,000 Initiative https://4p1000.org/?lang=en
8) Assessing potential land suitable for surface irrigation using groundwater in Ethiopia. (2017)
9) Organic Carbon Storage and Dynamics as Affected by the Adoption of Irrigation in a Cultivated Calcareous Mediterranean Soil, Soil Sci., 21 March 2022. https://doi.org/10.3389/fsoil.2022.831775
10) Hunger to Violence: Explaining the Violent Escalation of Nonviolent Demonstrations (2019),
11) Industrialisation of Agriculture and the role of Supply Chains in Promoting Competitiveness (2001)
SDG 6 calls for Water and Sanitation, which in this case means drinking water wells and shallow wells and other soil water strategies when needed. SDG 6 exceptionally supports 9 other SDGs, for small farmers:
1 No Poverty
Surplus food (see SDG 2), can be sold at the market, moving farmers from subsistence to cash economy. This opens up life choices and family choices, for example, improving reproductive choice, reducing the necessity for a high birth rate, and reducing the need for urban or transboundary migration, to find jobs and food.
2 Zero Hunger
Irrigation from a water well doubles (x2) or even triples (x3) food supply immediately. Our WellMapr can also show the absence of shallow water, where other soil water conservation strategies can successfully mitigate drought. It can be used for “managed aquifer recharge”. Ethiopia has 120,000 square kilometres that can be used for shallow wells, but less than 5% is currently used.
3 Good Health & Well Being
Clean drinking water from a well, reduces 60-80% of gut infections, normally resulting from drinking river or lake water.
4 Quality Education
Women and children no longer have to lug water for hours every day, and the time saved can be spent on education.
5 Gender Equality
Women have more time for self-improvement, including running stalls at the local market and managing the family cash.
8 Decent Work & Economic Growth
Significantly increased crop growth means more work on small farms, tending & harvesting crops, especially for youth.
9 Industry, Innovation, & Infrastructure
Large excess quantities of food could be canned, dried, salted, bagged, and marketed (11) in small industrial units.
13 Climate Action
Increased soil carbon in root mass, due to better soil water management, will significantly sequester atmospheric CO2,, at a rate of x2 or x3 (in lock step with increased crop yields).
16 Peace Justice & Strong Institutions
Improved crop outcomes can lead to farm jobs, and potentially food marketing jobs, and even light food processing jobs, which in turn contributes towards peace. Male youth, thus occupied are essentially well occupied, versus being jobless and prone to other means of survival which may be nefarious (3), (10) and damage the national institutions.
