The long walk for water is over: sunshine now pumps clean water for 72,000 people in Harbu

For years, families in Harbu, a town in Ethiopia's South Wollo Zone, carried jerrycans over long distances to fetch river water that was not safe to drink — a burden that fell hardest on women and mothers. That walk is now over. The Ethiopian Red Cross Society, working with the Austrian Red Cross, has switched on a solar power plant built for 13.4 million Birr (about $83,000) that runs the town's clean drinking water supply on sunshine alone — no fuel bills, no electricity costs. The plant generates over 110 kilowatts, enough to power the current borehole with room for one more, and the government added land worth about 3.9 million Birr (about $24,000) to make space for it. Resident Yeshumnesh Ibrahim, who once hauled those jerrycans herself, said mothers across the town are overjoyed to finally have clean water close to home. The plant will serve more than 72,000 residents.

SDG 6 · Clean water and sanitation — Mechanism: infrastructure build