WATER RESOURCES IN THE AWASH RIVER BASIN, ETHIOPIA

By: Alemu Tezera Dessie and Beyene Senedu Yebrie

1. Introduction
This study assesses the social, economic,
environmental, institutional and legal issues
of water resources in Awash River basin.
Beside that climate change scenario and
proposed solutions are also discussed.
have had so many impacts in the basin since
most of the people who live are poor farmers
and nomads. They are easily vulnerable for
such kind of hazards because they are
illiterate and governmental supports are also
very limited.

1.1 Description of the study area

The Awash River originates from Central
West part of Ethiopia, flowing 1200 Km
long, and provides a lot of benefits to
Ethiopia. Awash river basin has a catchment
area of 112,696 km2. It covers parts of the
Amhara, Oromia, Afar, Somali regional
states, and Dire Dawa, and Addis Ababa City
administrative states of the country. The
elevation of the river basin ranges from the
lowest elevation of 210 m to a highest
elevation of 4195 m. The total mean annual
flow from the river basin is estimated to be
4.9 BMC.

Awash river serves as a source of drinking

water, hydropower, industrial consumption,
irrigation and disposal of waste water. As a
result of immense industrial and agricultural
activities in the catchment area, the Awash
river is the most utilized and polluted river in
the country.
2. Challenges and problems in the basin
2.1. Natural challenges
As the basin is found in the rift valley,
seismic problems which cause light
earthquake, landslides and cracking are seen.
In addition to that, the scarcity of rainfall,
high evaporation and seepage are some of the
problems.
Extreme events such as droughts and
flooding have been seen several times. These
Figure 1. Awash River Basin
Lake Beseka has caused several problems
for the last three decades. The surface area of
the lake was 11.1Km2 in 1973 but it was
increased to 42.6km2 in 2008.
There are two reasons for the lake water level
and area increment. One of the reason is
related to rift valley. It is believed that since
the lake is found in the rift valley, the
geological condition and the hot springs in
the area aggravate its expansion. The others
said that the it is the result of large irrigation
scheme of Methara sugarcane plantation

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because the problem was seen after 1965
when Methara irrigation projected
commenced. Previously, they applied flood
irrigation system or furrow irrigation with a
lot of water disposal without use. The
accumulation of the disposed water from
irrigation sites inundated in the field and
caused the groundwater to rise.
Figure 2.Lake Beseka (Megersa Olumana,2009)
2.2. Social Challenges/Problems
In the highland of the Awash river basin,
Ethiopia’s big cities such Addis Ababa, Dire
Dawa, Nazereth, Debre Birhan and Dessie
are found as result of this, dense population
is one of the problem. Because of the dense
the population, the water demand is higher
than the supply. As figure 3 (red circle)
depicts that the availability of the water in the
basin is below 600 m3/capita/year which is
very low as compared to 1500 m3/capita/year
of the average water availability of the
country.
Pastoralists say their traditional rights to
access water are under threat because of large
sugarcane plantation expansion in Tendaho
and the social impact assessment was not also
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http://www.awba.gov.et
undertaken by involving the pastoralists and
farmers.
Protection of water resources using the full
potential of the water systems and an
integrated approach of water management are
very weak.
Figure 3. Changes in per capita water availability
over time by river basin
2.3. Economic Challenges
According to the Awash river basin1 , some
of the economic challenges and problems are:
 Low level of investment in the water
sector
 Increasing costs of development
Considering of the investment costs leads to
give less attention to waste water treatment
plants.
 Low finance from water charges
The amount of money collected is not enough
for maintenance and increasing the
manpower in the water work sections.
 Insufficient budgetary allocation
As one of the developing countries, the
government has given insufficient budgets to
spread and improve the existing water
supplying systems besides the political
games on the back.
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2.4. Legal and Institutional Challenges
Legal and institutional issues are vast and
need better knowledge about the existing
system of the country. Here some of major
issues are discussed below:
 Focus only on parts of the basin and lack
of coordination
There is no real coordination between the
sub-catchments. Additionally, it does not
address the administrative linkage of water
resources to land management and spatial
planning.
There is no yet a coordination mechanism
established between the Awash river basin
and the respective regional states and other
stakeholders within the basin to manage the
water resources in an integrated manner.
 Lack of integrated management
information system
Data management is also a challenge. No
sufficient data are collected, even the data
collected are placed in different sectors
which do not work together.
 Policy gaps: EIAs are not conducted prior
to the implementation of water resources
projects.
 Lack of cost recovery systems, low
community participation and institutional
instability in the past and its effect on
current performance are still the existing
problems.
 There is not sufficient legal framework to
fully address and administer the water
resources challenges because of the lack
of tools, procedures and guidelines.
2.5. Environmental Challenges
Watershed degradation are seen throughout
the basin due to the continuous deforestation,
soil erosion, land use and landcover changes.
Water quality deterioration are the major
problem of the Awash river basin because of:
 Pollution from big urban centers of the
country
 Pollution from Industries and Agriculture
particularly large irrigation schemes such
as sugarcane plantation, orchards and
horticultures.
 Discharging of Lake Beseka water into
the river Awash.
 Water logging and salinization are
increasing pressure on land and water
quality.
The impact of climate changes on the basin is
also inevitable.
3. Climate change scenario
The economy of the Awash basin is highly
exposed to hydrological variability. Modest
changes in rainfall lead to swings in the
basin’s GDP of 5-10 percent, while a
prolonged drought could reduce agricultural
production by 20 percent.
Figure 4 shows that the river flow of Awash
may reduce in next 15 years. This reduction
might be triggered by climate changes and
upstream watershed degradation. This would
have a bigger impact in the basin because the
water supply in the basin is not still even met
the current demand.
Figure 4. Trend of Awash river flow (Adopted
from Adane A.,2016)
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The expansion of the lake Beseka has the
potential to displace of Matahara town and
impact the sugarcane plantation in the next
25 to 30 years. Its expansion is ongoing in
addition to that the topography suitability in
the east and northeast direction will
aggravate the problem.
Having considered the past trends, the lake is
expected to join Awash River, thereby
impacting all downstream irrigation
developments in the Awash Basin and
affecting the livelihood of the people who
depend on the water resources of this basin.
4. Proposed solutions
Irrigation efficiency is low, and it is time to
introduce current technologies, such as drip,
sprinkler and canal irrigations extensively
which can save water without decreasing
productivity of the system.
Stakeholder participation in all phases of
water resources development should be given
emphasis and should be encouraged.
The availability of water in the basin cannot
meet even the current demand of water for
different uses. So, demand management
should be introduced.
Integrated water resources management
should also be done in the Awash basin.
The role of water price in the distribution
system will improve the efficient allocation
of existing water supplies.
Minimization of losses of water in irrigation
and unaccounted losses in water supply
systems is required.
Water pollution standards should be
established and enforced by law.
Environmental flow should be maintained to
protect the loss of biodiversity and ecosystem
services that are brought by degradation of
water resources.
5. Conclusion and Recommendations
Protection of water resources using the
full potential of the water systems and an
integrated approach of water
management is very weak.
Water is wasted in all sectors because it is
provided by public systems at little or no
costs to the users, so service charges
should be increased.
Large water withdrawal in the basin is for
irrigation as the large and small irrigation
systems of the country are found there.
Water pollution in the basin is one of the
basic problem which aggravates water
shortage.
Less attention is given in participating
different stakeholders.
Environmental and Social Impact
Assessment should be undertaken in
order to account the possible impacts.
Awareness creation on the utilization of
water should be promoted and introduced
in a meaningful and organized way.
There should be collaboration between
the authorities, regional states, farmers
and pastoralists.
Soil and water conservations should be
encouraged along with afforestation to
reduce the sedimentation problem in
Koka lake.
The groundwater potential and problems
are not well studied in the basin so
thorough study is essential.
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