6.

WATER RESOURCE BASINS OF Water Resources Planning

and Management
ETHIOPIA

The country is located between

3o and 15o North latitudes and
30o and 48o East longitudes.

It has a total area of 1.13 million square kilometer.

The topography is so varied that elevations range from

125 m below sea level in the Afar Dallol depression to a
number of peaks in excess of 4000 m, of which the
highest is Ras Dashen with 4620 m.a.s.l.
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 Rainfall varies both in amount and distribution from a

few showers in the low lands to thousands of mm per
year in the highlands.
 The temperature variations are also significant in the
country with highest mean maximum temperature of
about 40oC in the low lands and around 0oC or lower
observed mainly during night in the high land areas.
 6. WATER RESOURCE BASINS OF Water Resources Planning
and Management
ETHIOPIA
 Ethiopia, with its different geological formations and climatic
conditions, is endowed with considerable water resources and
wetland ecosystems:
 twelve river basins,
 about 14 major lakes, and
 some man made reservoirs.
 About 123 billion cubic meters of water runs off annually from the
above sources.
 Most of them are trans-boundary Rivers.
 6. WATER RESOURCE BASINS OF Water Resources Planning
and Management
ETHIOPIA
SURFACE WATER RESOURCES POTENTIAL OF ETHIOPIA:

 Ethiopian is “the water tower of east Africa.”

 The Wabishebelle River Basin is the largest basin in Ethiopian
with an area of 202, 220 km2 followed by the Abbay River Basin
covering an area of 199,812 km2.
 The smallest basin is the Aysha Basin with an area of 2223 km2
followed by the Mereb that has an area with in Ethiopia of 5900
km2. River basin of ethiopia.docx
6. WATER RESOURCE BASINS OF Water Resources Planning
and Management
ETHIOPIA
Major river basins, catchments areas and annual discharges
No. Basins Catchments area Annual Discharge

% (km2) % (Billion m3) %

1 Abay 199,812 17.56 54.4 43.05

2 Awash 112,700 9.9 4.9 3.76

3 Baro-Akobo 74,102 6.51 23.23 19.31

4 Genele-Dawa 171,050 15.03 6.1 4.81

5 Tekeze 90,000 7.9 8.2 6.24

6 Wabi-shebele 200,214 17.59 3.16 2.59

7 Omo-Ghibe 78,200 6.87 16.6 14.7

8 Mereb 5,900 0.52 0.72 0.21

9 52,740 4.63 5.64 4.62

10 74,0002 6.5 0.86 0.7

11 Ogaden 77,100 6.77 0.0 0.0

12 Aisha 2,200 0.19 0.0 0.0

Total 1,138,020 100 123.81 100

 6. WATER RESOURCE BASINS OF Water Resources Planning
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ETHIOPIA
 The Abbay Basin is the most important Basin in Ethiopia by most
criteria as
 it contributes about 45% of the countries surface water resources,

 25 % of the population,

 20 % of the landmass,

 40 % of the nations agricultural product and

 most of the hydropower and irrigation potential of the country

6. WATER RESOURCE BASINS OF Water Resources Planning
and Management
ETHIOPIA
BASINS POTENTIAL FOR FUTURE WATER RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT
R.No. Basin Name Water Resources Irrigation Hydropower

Specific yield Per-Capital Potential ' Per capital Firm Energy Per capital
(l/s/km2 ) availability 000ha ha. GWH KWH/person
m3 /person

1 Wabishebelle 0.53 578 209.3 0.04 7457 1268

2 Abbay 8.63 3823 1800 0.13 55000 3865
3 Genale Dawa 1.10 1176 1070 0.21 9270 1818
4 Awash 1.41 445 206 0.02 5589 508
5 Tekeze 3.16 1737 186.9 0.04 8384 1776
6 Denakil 0.42 416 0.00 - -
7 Ogaden 0.00 0 0.00 - -
8 Omo-Ghibe 6.66 2554 90.4 0.01 26026 4004
9 Baro-Akobo 9.70 10507 631 0.29 19826 8967
10 3.44 708 131 0.02 12240 1537
11 Mereb 3.87 1646 5 0.01 - -
12 Aysha 0.00 0 0 0.00 - -
 6. WATER RESOURCE BASINS OF Water Resources Planning
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ETHIOPIA
ETHIOPIAN POLICY OF WATER RESOURCES MANAGEMENT

 The over all goal of the policy is to enable and promote all national
efforts towards the efficient, equitable and optimum utilization of the
available water resources of Ethiopia for significant socioeconomic
development on sustainable basis.
 The detail objectives of the water resources management policy are:
 Development of the water resources of the country for economic and social
benefits of the people, on equitable and sustainable basis.
 Allocation and apportionment of water based on a comprehensive and
integrated plans and optimum allocation principles that incorporate efficiency
of use, equity of access and sustainability of the resources.
6. WATER RESOURCE BASINS OF Water Resources Planning
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ETHIOPIAN POLICY OF WATER RESOURCES MANAGEMENT
 Managing and combating drought as well as other associated
slow on-set disasters through efficient allocation,
redistribution, transfer, storage and efficient use of water
resources.

 Combating and regulating floods through sustainable

mitigation, prevention, rehabilitation and other practical
measures.

 Conserving, protecting and enhancing water resources and

the overall aquatic environment on sustainable basis.
 6. WATER RESOURCE BASINS OF Water Resources Planning
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Strategy for water resources protection

 Create appropriate mechanisms to protect the water resources of
the country from pollution and depletion so as to maintain
sustainable development and utilization of water resources
 Establish standards and classification for various uses of water in
terms of quality and quantity for different scenarios including limit
and ranges for desirable and permissible level
 Establish procedures and mechanisms for all action that are
detrimental to water resources including waste discharge, source
development and catchments management.
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