to 84% and access to improved sanitation to 80% by 2010. these ambitious targets go well beyond the water and sanitation targets of the millennium development goals, which aim at halving the share of people without access by 2015. according to one set of government figures, which is used by the ministry of finance and economic development for planning purposes, access to drinking water reached 68.5% in 2010. according to another set of government figures, based on national survey data and used by the who and unicef to monitor the millennium development goals, in 2008 access to an improved water source was only 38% and to improved sanitation 12%. in 2010 the government presented the equally ambitious growth and transformation plan (gtp) 2011-2015 that aims at increasing drinking water coverage, based on the government's definition, from 68.5% to 98.5%. tariffs and cost recovery in 2014 water tariffs in addis abeba were of an increasing-block type, with the first 15m3 per month costing the equivalent of 0,14 usd per m3, rising to 0,21 usd per m3 until 50 m3 and 0,24 usd per m3 above. on average, according to the world bank cost recovery is too low to recover operating costs, not to speak of providing adequate maintenance of facilities. recurrent expenditures – estimated at us$29 million in 2001–02 – were financed primarily through user charges (64%), as well as by subsidies from the regional governments (31%) and the federal government (5%). nevertheless, a few service providers recover all operating costs and generate a modest cash surplus. the national water resources management policy aims at full cost recovery for urban systems and recovery of operation and maintenance costs for rural systems. it is not clear if progress has been made to achieve this ambitious objective since the policy was adopted. investment and financing investment actual investment. there are no recent reliable estimates of actual investment levels in the sector, and available estimates vary greatly. a detailed estimate of investment and financial flows in the ethiopian water sector was carried out by the world bank's water and sanitation program (wsp) for the financial year 2001–02. it estimated total sector investments at us$39 million or less than half a dollar per capita, being one of the lowest recorded sector investment levels in the world. water and sanitation have declined as a share of total poor-focused expenditure from 7.4% in 2005/06 to 3.4% in 2009/10. in addition, according to research funded by dfid, "actual expenditure may fall well short of these levels. it seems that a very significant proportion of resources are not utilised and are subject to bottlenecks." projected investment. the government estimates that annual investments in the 2006-2015 period will reach about us$100 million per year, or about two and a half times their level in 2001–2002. this projection is based on funding commitments made by donors and the government. it thus does not take into account bottlenecks in implementation due to limited capacities or other potential pitfalls. the government estimates that the actual investment needs are about three times as much or us$297 million per year for the period 2006–2015. financing sources. according to the wsp estimate quoted, in 2001-2002 only 9% of sector investments were funded by the federal budget, 55% through the regional budget, 33% off-budget by ngos, 2% by the ersdf and 1% by other sources. this estimate does not include community in-kind contributions, which are high for rural water supply and sanitation. a high but unknown share of the federal budget and probably also of the woreda budget devoted to the sector is funded by donors. concerning projected investments for 2006–2015, it is estimated that 12% (us$12 million) will be funded by the government with its own resources, 15% (us$16 million) by communities and 73% (us$75 million) by donors. it is not clear if this estimate includes off-budget support by ngos. because of the different categories used, a comparison between the historical and projected sources of financing is not possible. processes. according to a research report funded by dfid, the levels of funding to services delivered by regional and local government are difficult to predict. a large share of donor funding is channeled outside the government budget, although as of 2009 there was a trend for donors and government to "ensure the alignment of financing mechanisms". where financing is provided through the budget, conditions and reporting procedures are "excessively onerous". budget transparency and accountability are limited, although efforts are being made to create an open budget system at all levels of government. according to the report the government, particularly at lower tiers, "does not recognise citizens’ rights to information about budget allocations". the universal access plan uses national-level unit costs to allocated government funds to local governments. the unit cost approach fails to take regional differences into account. there is no funding for operation and maintenance or the costs of local governments to support communities in operation and maintenance. this increases the risk that newly built systems will be failing. for the country's 550 woredas an important source of financing are block grants from the central government which they can use autonomously within broad criteria set by the water resources development fund (wrdf). the wrdf itself provides loans and is administered by a board that is responsible to the mwe and is funded through budgetary allocations and donor funds. external cooperation donors finance numerous projects in water supply and sanitation in ethiopia – some through the federal government and some directly to regions, towns and communities. the donors have established a technical working group (twg) on water as part of a core donor group called the development assistance group. a multi-stakeholder forum is also supported through the european union water initiative. despite improved coordination, donors still use different implementation arrangements. as a result, according to the world bank, transaction cost are high. important donors in the sector are the african development bank, cida, china, the british dfid, the eu, finida, afd from france, germany (through gtz and kfw), jica, the netherlands, undp, unicef and the world bank. there are also about 500 local and foreign ngos, many of which are active in water supply and sanitation. the african development bank provided a us$64 million grant for rural water supply and sanitation approved in 2005. china in november 2011 it was announced that china would provide a us$100 million loan for water supply in addis ababa. wateraid the british ngo wateraid has been engaged in ethiopia since 1983. it works closely with established local ngos. in oromia region, water projects tend to be spring-fed gravity schemes, some of which are very large, providing water for tens of thousands of people. in southern nations, nationalities, and people's region schemes have included deep boreholes as water is sometimes only found below 200 metres. for example, in the village of orbesho residents - mainly women - built themselves an access road to allow drilling equipment to be brought in, dug trenches for pipes and collected stones for structures. in amhara and tigray the main technologies have been hand-dug wells and spring development. in benishangul-gumuz rope pumps are also used. in sanitation, wateraid supports the construction and use of latrines. hygiene education has increasingly focused on the close links between proper handwashing at critical times, like before eating and after going to the toilet, and improved health. in all cases wateraid works closely with communities from the start. particular attention is now being paid to engaging women. since 1998 wateraid has also been engaged in the slum areas of addis ababa. projects include establishing communal water points linked to the city's piped systems, as well as shower and latrine blocks. world bank street in addis abeba, the ethiopian capital, where the world bank, china and other external donors assist in financing water supply and sanitation (picture:sam effron). in may 2012 the world bank provided approved a us$150 million soft loan for an urban water and sanitation project as additional financing to a us$100 million soft loan approved in 2007. the project covers addis ababa, gondar, hawassa, jimma, mekelle and diredawa. on the sanitation side, it will promote household latrines, hygiene and sanitation practices and constructing communal sanitation facilities. water production is expected to increase from 50 to 75 liter per capita per day in addis ababa and from 30 to 50 liter in the five secondary cities. the water distribution network will be extended to serve 400,000 more people (40,000 connections) in addis ababa and 500,000 more people (50,000 connections) in the five secondary cities. the project will also promote awareness of water conservation among customers. the project will also reduce water losses: in addis ababa out of the 50 liters per capita per day produced, only 35 reached consumers due to water losses. in the remaining cities only 20 of the 30 liters produced reached consumers. in march 2010, the world bank approved additional financing of us$80 million for a us$100 million rural water supply and sanitation project approved in 2004. according to the world bank, until 2010 the original project had financed the construction of 1288 hand dug wells, 835 protected springs, 576 shallow wells, 99 deep wells, 75 rural piped systems and 35 rainwater harvesting, as well as conducting hygiene and sanitation promotion. in rural areas alone, according to the world bank the project facilitated access to clean water and improved sanitation facilities to about 1.4 million people. in urban areas, the project provided "immediate service improvement" in 87 towns which benefited about 143,000 people.