In the 60s, the water supply of the Ethiopian capital continued to be guaranteed only by the water works built at the bottom of the foothills close to the city during the Italian colonial occupation and in the years of the Second World War.

The great demographic development and the need to start up processes of modernization and economic development made it crucial to avail the capital's growing population of the Ethiopian plateau's abundant water supply.

The construction of a dam as a further source of water supply for the city in addition to the existing Gafarsa Dam, was commissioned by the Municipality of Addis Ababa. The work lasted from 1967 to 1971 and involved the building of a barrier consisting of a main dam made of concrete and a dam mass made of rockfill upstream, a rare solution.

The water of the Legadadi basin was subsequently made drinkable by a plant that performs pre-chlorination, sedimentation, filtration and chlorination, and was then channelled towards the city via an aqueduct with steels pipes measuring about 30 km in length.

The artificial basin has a capacity of 40,000,000 m3 and the purification plant can treat 50,000 m3 of water a day. The Legadadi plant provides 70% of Addis Ababa's water, thereby guaranteeing urban and demographic development. It was officially inaugurated by Emperor Haile Selassie on November 3, 1970.

Client: Municipality of Addis Ababa