Table of content: Page
• Introduction……………………………………………. 3
• Objective………………………………………………… 5
• Literature review…………………………………….. 5
• Results and Discussion……………………………. 13
• Conclusion……………………………………………… 13
• References…………………………………………….. 13
1. Introduction
• Water resources are vital renewable resources that are the basis for existence and development of a society.
• Proper utilization of these resources requires assessment and management of the quantity and quality of the water
resources both spatially and temporally. Surface water being easy, direct and therefore less expensive to exploit in
comparison to other sources like groundwater or sources that need desalinization, makes it the major source of water
supply for irrigation, domestic uses, hydropower development and industry.
• Ethiopia has twelve river basins (Table1.1). Awash River Basin is one of the major river basins in Ethiopia with a total
catchment area of 112,697 km2. Moreover, the River basin is the most developed and exploited of all Ethiopian River
Basins and it has massive economic significance for the development of the country. Therefore, proper utilization of
this resource requires assessment, integrated catchment planning and management which in turn demands
development of runoff rainfall relationship.
• The mean annual rainfall is 530mm and varies from about 1600 mmyr−1at Ankober, in the high lands north east of
Addis Ababa to 160mm yr−1at Asayita on the northern border of the basin.
• The drainage area of the AwashRiver basin is 116449km(Fig.1). Lake Abbe is located in the downstream end of the
basin and has an average size of 340km2open water, surrounded by 110 km2of salt flats. The lake surface area and
water depth fluctuates with rainfall and runoff. The water level can drop as much as 5 m. The maxi-mum depth of the
lake is 36m.
• The Awash Basin is located in the tectonically active East African Rift System and it has a complex geology.
• Figure 1. Location of the Awash River basin in the central Rift Valley of Ethiopia
1.1 Objectives
• The purpose of this study is to get insights into the water availability, withdrawals, consumptive use, non-consumptive use and the benefits
and services rendered from it in the Awash River Basin, using WaPOR data in conjunction with other data sources.
• In particular, the study seeks to investigate:
• • What is the current water resources availability in the Awash River basin?
• • How much water is being consumed by different land use classes and in particular by irrigation in the Awash River basin?
• • What are the safe caps of water withdrawals for the agricultural sector in Awash?
• 2. Literature Review
• 2.1 Hydrology
• WaPOR(Water Productivity) rainfall data is based on the CHIRPS(Climate Hazards Group InfraRed Precipitation with Station-quasi-global
rainfall data) database created by the United States Geological Survey (Funk et al., 2015; FAO, 2018). Figure 2 shows the spatial variability of
the average annual WaPOR precipitation (P) in the Awash River Basin for the period 2009-2018. As it seen clearly in
• the precipitation map, most of the rainfall falls in the north-west and south-east highlands of the basin. There is little rainfall (<200
mm/year) in the central and north-eastern part of the basin.
Figure 2. WaPOR annual precipitation (mm/year) for the Awash River basin averaged for 2009-2018. Maps for the individual
years are provided in Annex 1.
• The basin annual rainfall varied between 390 mm/year in 2015 to 690 mm/year in 2010 (Figure 3). The
monthly-average precipitation shows a bimodal rainfall where a short rainy seasons last from March to May
and a longer rainy season lasts from June to September where most of the rainfall happens (Figure 3).
Figure 3. Average annual (top) and average monthly (below) WaPOR Precipitation in Awash River basin for a period of 10 years (2009 to 2018)
2.2 Water Resources Potential of Awash River Basin
Awash river basin has a catchment area of 112,696 km2. The Awash River originates from CentralWest part
of Ethiopia, flowing 1200 Km long, and provides a number of benefits to Ethiopia.Relatively, the most
utilized river basin and the only river entirely in the country, Awash coversparts of the Amhara, Oromia,
Afar, Somali regional states, and Dire Dawa, and Addis Ababa Cityadministrative states of the country.
The river basin has a lowest elevation of 210 m and a highestelevation of 4195 m. The total mean annual
flow from the river basins is estimated to be 4.9 BMC.
Figure 4. Irrigation potential of Awash River Basin
• Most of the industrial activity in Ethiopia (estimated 65%) is located in the Awash River Basin (ARBA, 2017)
including two of the main industrial zones of the country (Dire Dawa and Kombolcha).
Many of the big na-tional industrial hotspots and corridors, big agro industries and highly populated cities
and towns in the country are found inside the Awash River Basin (ARBA, 2017).
The Awash River Basin is the most utilized river basin in Ethiopia with a number of small, medium and large
scale irrigation schemes (e.g. Ada’aBecho, Wonji-Shoa, Fental-Tibila, Metahara, Upper Awash Agro Industry,
Kesem, Amibara, Gewane and Tendaho), totalling 200,000 ha of farmland (ARBA 2017). Other water users
include (agro-) industries located along the river and urban and rural water supply schemes.
To accommodate these demands, four dams were constructed in the basin for irrigation and domestic and
industrial water supply as well as hydropower (Aba Samuel (1932), Gefersa dam (1938) for
domestic/industrial water supply, Koka dam (1960) for hydropower, Kessem and Tendaho for irrigation).
Following the construction of Koka dam, downstream irrigation developments like Wonji and Metehara
sugar plantations, upper, middle and, lower Awash state farms with fruits, vegetables and cotton
plantations flourished. According to current estimates the irrigated land in the basin reach about 200,000ha
(ARBA, 2017).
Due to the intensive irrigation development in the basin particularly along the Awash River, there is high
water stress during the peak of the irrigation season (April to June). On the other hand, flooding is
frequently observed in the basin during the rainy season (July to September) (ARBA, 2017).
• The irrigated agricultural water use is the largest water user in the basin, accounting to about 83% of the total water use (ARBA, 2017). A
wide variety of crops are cultivated both commercially and for subsistence, for local and national markets as well as for export. The type of
crops range from cereals, vegetables, flowers, cotton to perennial fruit orchards and sugarcane. From 2010, there was shift in crop
preference following the Govern-ment’s interest in sugar production. In the middle and lower valley areas, cotton cultivating areas have
now been transformed to sugarcane production
• Irrigation Potential
• Most of the irrigation schemes in Awash Basin have good reputation in irrigation efficiency which
varies from 30 to 55 %. In the early 50’s the Koka Dam was built in the basin, which served for hydro -
electrical generation and irrigation development in the down stream. Soon after the first sugar factory
was established in the basin. Large- scale irrigated farming is common on the floodplain. State farms
control some 80% of the irrigated area and smallholder farmers farm the remaining 20% (Table 4). Of
the state farm area 92% is grown with cotton, 3% with bananas and 5% with cereals and vegetables
• Hydropower on the Awash River Basin
Though Ethiopia has substantial hydropower potential it has one of the lowest levels of per capita electrical consumption in the world. There are
three functional dams in Awash River Basin, Aba
Samuel (1.5 GWh/year) commissioned in 1939, Koka (110 GWh/year) commissioned in 1960, Awash II (165 GWh/year) commissioned in 1966, and
Awash III (165 GWh/year) commissioned in 1971.
Koka was built on the upper Awash for hydropower generation and irrigation development downstream.
• The dam has served for four decades. In the coming years five additional dams are proposed to be built for hydropower generation and irrigation
development in the basin.
2.3 climatology
• According to the two global climate models(CSIR-MK3-6-0 and MIROC-ESM-CHEM with RCP4.5 and RCP8.5).
• The annual mean temperature increases , ranging from 0.5 to 0.9 degree Celsius under RCP 4.5 and 0.6 to 1.2 degree celsius under RCP 8.5 for all
time slices . in the 2020s, annual mean rainfall increases by 5.77% .
• Average values of temperatures recorded at the basin during the season where 12.10,23.20,17.65 degree Celsius
• 2.4 socio-economic development
• Land use was based on traditional ownership, although all land officially belonged to the governments.
The social organization in the Afar region is governed by a customary law and social structure that unites several tribes. Land use is specifically
adapted to the size and kind of livestock such as cattle,
goats, sheep, and camels; the delineation and non utilization of lands, usually reserved for livestock grazing, for regeneration purposes. Conflict is
ongoing in the Awash River Basin, much of which is inter-ethnic and inter-clan in nature. Changes to land use had many unwanted impacts, and
most of the pastoralists were evicted from the wet grazing lands for dam construction and irrigation development for sugar cane, horticultural crops
and cotton (Fiona Flintan and Imeru Tamrat 2002; François Piguet, 2001).
• 2.5 Ecosystem and biodiversity in the basin
• Vegetation
The Upper Basin Rained area is used by pastoralists during the rainy season because of the higher rainfall and there crop utilization is high.
The dominant vegetation in the Upper and Middle Valley is grassland with some scrubland and riparian forest along the Awash River. The best wet
season grazing areas here are the Alidge, Gewane, Awash
and Amibar.Some of the plant species include Balanites aegypticus, Salix subserata, Flueggia virosa, Carissa edulis, Rumex nervosus, Tamarindus
indica, Ulcea schimperiand Acacia spp.. Lasiurus scindicus, Pa nicum turgidum (highly palatable), in the plains of Gobbad and Hanle, associated with
Acacia tortilis, Acacia asak (mainly present in the wadis), Cadaba rotundifolia and Salvadora persica .Sporobolus spicatus , which is typical of saline
depressions and swamps, bears signs of some degradation. Hyphaene thebaica (Doum palm) formations are characteristic but strongly degraded over
the area. Lake Abe is a large (180 km_), shallow and saline (170 g /l NaCl) lake, shared between Djibouti and Ethiopia. It is characterized by sulphur
emanations, quicksand, hot springs and hydrothermal travertine rock deposits aligned along faults. The vegetations vary with agroecological zones.
• Animal diversity
The wild ass lives in open desert country and in lava-strewn hills among the rocks and cliffs, across the plains of the Danakil region and the Awash Valley. The
Somali wild ass (Equus asinus somalicus) is
of global significance as it is the only existing representative of the African wild ass with only a few hundred individuals left.
(http://www.stlzoo.org/animals/abouttheanimals/mammals/hoofedmammals/somaliwildass.htm)
Awash National Park is the oldest and most developed wildlife reserve in Ethiopia. Featuring the 1,800- metre Fantalle Volcano, extensive mineral hot-springs
and extraordinary volcanic formations,
this natural treasure is bordered to the south by the Awash River and lies 225 kilometers east of the capital, The wildlife consists mainly of East African plains
animals, but thereare now no giraffe or buffalo ,
Oryx, bat- eared fox, caracal, aardvark, colobus and green monkeys, Anubis and Hamadryas baboons, klipspringer, leopard, bushbuck, hippopotamus,
Soemmering’s gazelle, cheetah, lion, kudu and 450
species of bird all livewithin the park's 720 square kilometers.
Awash National Park. 2004.Selemeta. http://www.selamta.net/national_parks.htm
2.6 Existing and planned water resources actvities
• The large-scale irrigation schemes consist of 53 percent of the irrigation schemes developed so far.
• One of the large-scale irrigation schemes is Metahara Abadiy which is located in East Shoa, in
• Oromia Regional State. This irrigation scheme covers an estimated irrigated area of 8,960 hectares.
• Wonji is also one of the large-scale irrigation schemes with an estimated irrigated area of 5,925
• Hectares
• 3.Results and Discussion
• Awash river basin is a highly used basin in Ethiopia among the 12 river basins.
• It has also a high potential to develop new projects .
• Sustainable utilisation of the water resources in Awash River Basin is critical. Especially with the Ethiopian government’s intention to increase sugar cane production,
which is one of the main water consumers in the Awash River Basin. The results of the rapid WaPOR based Water Accounting study, shows that the water availability
has large inter-annual variability. The overall managed water fraction is still low with 28% of the available water. To satisfy the growing demand of water in the basin,
strategies focusing on increasing water productivity and storage capacity are the way forward to increase reliable availability of the much needed water resources
• 4.Conclusions
• The Awash River Basin is the most utilized river basin in Ethiopia hosting most of the industrial activities, small to large scale irrigation schemes and more than 18.6
million people. The basin faces high water stress during the peak irrigation time and frequent flooding in rainy seasons. The average yearly precipitation as quantified in
the decade from 2009 to 2018 is 560 mm/year and the average yearly evapotranspiration is calculated as 503 mm/year indicating about 90% of the precipitation is
consumed through evapotranspiration. The remaining 10% contributes to outflow from the basin in the form of groundwater outflow and change in storage within the
basin. Based on
• the estimated water availability, the inhabitants are facing severe water shortage.
• The availability of water in the basin shows annual variability depending on the amount of precipitation the basin receives. In wet years, the basin generates surplus of
water in excess of managed water and in dry years, the storage is depleted to satisfy managed water requirement. The overall managed water fraction is almost half
(50%) of the available water. 37% the exploitable water is used for irrigation, this amounts to 95% of the managed water use. To satisfy the growing demand of water in
the basin, strategies focusing on increasing water use efficiency and storage capacity need to be implemented to reduce the inter-annual variability. A safe cap on the
exploitable water could not be determined without knowing where the outflow ends up.
• Reference:
http://www.fao.org/3/ca8668en/ca8668en.pdf
http://etd.aau.edu.et/bitstream/handle/123456789/9926/Sileshi%20Gobena.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/42765483
