CHAPTER VI

 
Integrated River Basin Management (IRBM) study
cases in different contexts of water use
  

Introduction of Ethiopian River Basins

 Amanuel Zenebe
 OUTLINE
1.Introduction

2.Abay basin

3.Awash Basin

4.Omo-Ghibe basin

5.Rift Valley Basin

 
1. Introduction
One of the national water policy of Ethiopia based on the
principles of Dublin-Rio statements (1992) is Integrated
Water Resources Management, thus the policy recognizes
the hydrologic boundary or basin as the fundamental
planning unit and water resources management domain.
Four IRBM study cases in different contexts of water use:
Abay, Awash, Omo-Gibe and Rift Valley basin (Ziway-
Abyata) in the context RV Lakes basin will be presented.
 
The case studies are aimed at broadening the knowledge of
students in IRBM in Ethiopian context by giving an insight
on: i) river basin resources and use, ii) the impact of man
on river basin resources and, iii) sustainable management
of limited river basin resources for the benefit of the
present and the coming generations.
 
To further broaden the knowledge of the students in
IRBM, students will be given a group assignment (a group
of 2-4) to review literature on IRBM and write a term-
paper, which will be shared to other groups in the
classroom in the form of presentations and discussions.
 Surface Water Resources of Ethiopia
• Five basins namely, the Omo-Ghibe, Awash, Rift-
valley, Denakil and Aysha basins can be categorized as
the Rift-valley system as all of them drain their water in
the Great East African Rift-valley.

• The remaining three, Genale-Dawa, Wabe Shebelle and

Ogaden are part of the Eastern Ethiopian basin that
generally flows in the South-easterly direction toward
the Somali - Republic and then to the Indian Ocean .
 CHAPTER VI
 
Integrated River Basin Management (IRBM) study
cases in different contexts of water use
  

A Case Study of Abay basin

 Amanuel Zenebe
2 Abay basin

2.1 General basin characteristics

Population
Abay river basin, which contributes 86 % runoff to the
Nile, covers parts of Amhara, Oromia and
Benishangul-Gumuz regional states, and it is the most
populous basin in Ethiopia and is the 5th densely
populated of basin of Ethiopia.
Geography
Abay (Blue Nile) basin is geographically located
between 34016’31” and 39049’38” East longitudes and
between 7042’9” and 12045’19” North longitudes
The basin is bounded west by the Sudan and North by
Tekeze basin; East by Awash and south by Baro-Akobo
and Omo-Ghibe basins.
Climate

- The Mean Annual rainfall is 1420mm and ranges 1148-

1757mm.

- Annual rainfall over the basin decreases from the south-

west to the north-east (Conway, 2000).

- Mean average annual transpiration 1300mm, and the

basin annual air temperature ranges between 11.5 and
25.5 0 C (UNESCO-WWAP, 2007).
- The dominant agro-ecological zones of the basin are:
Hot to warm moist low land (M1, 23% ) and Tepid to
cool moist mid high land (M2, 30% ).
Geomorphology, geology and soils
Abay basin has an extremely varied topography. a
highland complex of mountains and bisected plateaux
characterizes the landscape, & has a river of 800 km long.
The basin lies between 472 and 4261 m. a.s.l and has an
average elevation of 2358 m (+/- 1084 m). This large
standard deviation in the elevation and the cross-sectional
profile below show how the basin is rugged.
-The type of geological formation dominates the basin are
early tertiary volcanos which covers above 50%, and
Precambrian rock is the second dominant rock in the
basin.

•
-16 major soil units were identified, and the
major soils are: Nitisols (34.04 %), Cambisols
(23.63%) and Vertisols (16.51%) .
Land cover and land use
Based on the FAO (1984), the basin has a varied land cover
including about 65 % (woodland and shrubland), 26 %
(cropland) and 1.74% (water).

Wildlife
The Semien mountains in the Abay basin are home of to
three f Ethiopia’s larger endemic mammals: the Walia ibex,
, the gelda baboon, the elusive Ethiopian wolf, rock
hyraxes, jackals, bushbucks, klipspringers, and there are
also endemic birds, such as thick-billed raven, white-
collared pigeon. The 179 sq-km park lies within the afro-
alpine zone between 1900m and 4543m elevation (Phillips
and Carillet, 2005)
Water Resources
The average annual discharge at the Sudanese-Ethiopian
border (Roseires until 1965 and Diem afterward) is
47.44km3. Therefore, the runoff/rainfall ratio over this basin
is 0.248, which is the highest among all the sub-basins
(Karyabwite, 2000). Lake Tana, with a surface area of 3,673
km2 is the largest lake of Ethiopia, in a depression of the
northwest plateau, 1,800 m above the sea level. It forms the
main reservoir for the Blue Nile. The lake has a drainage
area of 11,650 Km2; its maximum depth is 14 m
(AQUASTAT Survey 2005).

The estimated ground water potential is of the basin is 1.8

Bm3 (Awulachew et al., 2007), which is the highest potential
of all basins in Ethiopia.
2.2 Current Developments and their Impacts in the
Basin

2.2.1 Current development

a) Irrigated Agriculture
Abay basin has a total estimated of 815,581 hectares of
potential irrigable land, out of which 45,856 ha are for
small scale, 130,395 hectares for medium-scale and
639,330 hectares for large-scale development (Awulachew
et al. 2005).
b) Hydropower development
The basin has a gross hydro-electric potential of 78820 Gwh
a-1 (Awulachew et al., 2007), which makes the basin the
first largest hydropower development potential of all
sub-basins in the country. and will be The 10th largest
hydro-power development (5250MW) in the world is being
developed (ETV-news). This dam is also expected to be
exposed to reservoir sedimentation. The basin has second
highest sediment load next to Omo-Ghibe.

c) Fishery, Navigation and Geo-tourism 

Lake Tana is also used for fishing, navigation and tourism.
Tis Abay, a water that smokes, or The Blue Nile waterfall
and the Semien Mountains are also tourist attraction places
2.2.2 Positive and Negative Aspects of Development

Water harvesting in dams and ponds has crucial role in

supplementing irrigation and generate hydro-power. In
response to this, the Ethiopian government has been
involved in the construction of small to large-scale surface
water harvesting infrastructures as a means of increasing
water supply for various purposes.

The large-scale renaissance dam of Ethiopia is expected to

generate cheap and clean hydro power; it will also serve as
sediment trap to the downstream country, like Sudan, and
will have longer life cycle as large dead storage can be
provided.
However, these infrastructures have limitations due to lack
of reliable hydrological data during the design stage that is
the reservoirs are filled with sediments before they
complete their life cycle.

Moreover, agronomic and health hazards in some cases

leads to abandonment of dams and associated land (Haile et
al., unpub.).
2.2.3 Stakeholders and Groups Affected by the
Development

Large-to medium scale dams are being under construction

in the Abay basin, and such projects will affect the
cultivated and grazing lands, which are accepted to be
inundated due to dam construction. Farmers that own plots
on the reservoirs will be highly affected by the project, and
these farmers need compensation of their land, and job
guarantee in after completion of the project.
2.2.4 Institutional and Organizational Setting
Institutions at federal level and international
organizations act as a donors, and the regional bureaus,
local government institutions and NGOs as implementing
agencies in the time of project implementation.
Awulachew et al., 2005 explained that some of the
regional bureau mandates involve planning, design and
construction of small scale irrigation schemes and
handover to another bureau for management, operation
and maintenance.

Small–scale irrigation is carried out by the regional

Water Resources Bureau and the schemes are then
handed over to the Agricultural bureau for further
implementation. These arrangements are also applied to
The government organ working in water aspects are:
• The Bureau of water resources
• Organization for Rehabilitation and Development in
Amhara (ORDA),
• Ethiopian Social Rehabilitation and Development Fund
(ESRDF),
• International Fund for Agricultural Development
(IFAD),
• African Development Fund (ADF),
• African Development Bank (AfDB) (Awulachew et al.
2005).
• The Nile basin Initiative (NBI).
2.2.5 Problems and Constraints to be Addressed
a) Land degradation and reservoir sedimentation
- The Abay basin is the most degraded basin due to rapid
population growth, poverty, poor watershed management,
poor or absence of effective water use policy and frequent
natural disasters (Melesse et al., 2011).

-Soil loss in areas cultivated through traditional practices

amount to 122–128 tons per hectare per year in the
highlands of Abay Basin (The World Bank, 2006).

- According to Woodward et al., (2007), 72% of the total

suspended sediment load of the Nile (120 * 106 t a-1) is
contributed by Abay basin; whereas, Atbara and White
Nile contributes 25% and 3% respectively.
Sediment load of Abay is estimated to 40 10 6 m3 a-1
(UNESCO-WWAP, 2004). Like many reservoirs fill up
with sediments at an alarming rate because of
underestimation of sediment yield (Zenebe, 2009).

b) Hydrological variability
The extreme hydrological variability and seasonality of
the Abay River usually results in devastating droughts
and floods. Ethiopia faced droughts and floods during El
Niño and La Niña years respectively (Grey and Saddoff,
2005).
Harvesting and storing runoff water in reservoirs, so this
water can be used for supplementing the rain-fed
agriculture and providing water for irrigated agriculture, is
crucial for ensuring food security in drought-prone areas
of the Abay Basin and elsewhere in Ethiopia. Building
storage infrastructures and catchment treatment by soil and
water conservation measures is very crucial to regulate and
minimize flooding in flood-prone areas.

c) Trans-boundary nature of the river

The interna­tional nature of the Abay basin is one of the
challenges in managing the surface water resources of the
basin. For sustainable use and management of the Nile
basin resources, there must be a comprehensive and fair
agreement among the Nile riparian countries.
d) Lack of institutionalized research and institutional
capacity

-Institutionalized water research does not exist in

Ethiopia unlike the agricultural and health sectors
(Awulachew et al., 2007).

- Lack of institutional capacity, private sector

involvement, and markets.
2.3 Conclusions
Soil erosion, fertility loss, sedimentation and loss of
biodiversity due to deforestation and land degradation are
common in the Abay basin. As a consequence, water
shortage, water quality deterioration and flood impacts
occur. Therefore, integrated river basin management is an
important tool to optimize the use of water for various
purposes, so as to minimize land degradation and
sedimentation, to protect loss of biodiversity, and to
sustain environmental services and socio-economic
benefits of the River basin. Moreover, special attention
should also be given to coordinated planning with
downstream riparian countries for the success of the
hydropower and irrigation development projects in Abay
basin.