Developing sustainable water supply systems appropriate to the needs ofthe customer and the water supplier capacity incofporated with the rapidly growing urban population is a challenge faced in developing municipalities. With limited financial resources to develop water utilities. demands for water supply and delivery services are growing rapidly. The current water supply system of Bahir Dar is yet to be fully developed, has inadequate distribution ofwater supply. as well as high water losses. "Although it is not po.ssible to have a leak~f;'ec network, it is possible to reduce the percentage ofwater losses and increase the supply wverage. Geographical Information Systems (GIS) h~e been integrated into the development of utilities greatly improving the operation an~ maintenance of the systems and the decision-making abilities of" utility developers. Therefore. we develop a GIS database jor the vvater distribution network components of" Bahr Dar town and evaluated both the supply coverage and water loss with primary and available secondary data in addition to spatial data. such as wflter supply layout. QuickBird satellite image. master plan of the town and GPS ;neasurements. Water production and water consumption aggregated Fom customers meter readings were used to evaluate the total water loss in the town. We jound that the average domestic per capita consumption of Bahir Dar town is j 8.98 llcld, which is lower than that ofthe minimum standards set as a basic need. The level ofconnection p~ family is 35% which implies that on averaf,e three families or 13 persons are sharing one connection or water tap. In spite oflow coverage. there is a high water loss .. -in the town. a mean total loss o/ahout -/3% This studv also analyzes the accessihility of" the distribution pipeline network to the center of" the residential huildings using u proximity spatial analysis tool. and the mean near distance is 274 meters long This study suggests that jor optimal water loss reduction and spatial comparison of/oss within the syste~1, it would be necessary to update the existing network data into a digital database, improve the billing system, establish water pressure managemi:'nt. implement proper maintenance and replacement of netvvorks, and diVide the existing system into subsystems and district meter areas.

A thesis submitted to the school of graduate studies in partial fulfillment of the requirel~1ents for the degree of Master of Science in GIS and Remote Sensing: