Your search found 12 records
1 Awulachew, Seleshi Bekele; Yilma, A. D.; Loulseged, M.; Loiskandl, W.; Ayana, M.; Alamirew, T. 2007. Water resources and irrigation development in Ethiopia. Colombo, Sri Lanka: International Water Management Institute (IWMI). 66p. (IWMI Working Paper 123) [doi: https://doi.org/10.3910/2009.305]
Water resources ; Water potential ; River basins ; Lakes ; Reservoirs ; Water use ; Irrigation programs / Ethiopia / Abbay River Basin / Awash River Basin / Denakil River Basin / Genale Dawa River Basin / Wabi Shebele River Basin / Baro Akobo River Basin / Tekeze River Basin / Omo Ghibe River Basin / Rift Valley Basin / Mereb River Basin / Aysha River Basin / Ogaden River Basin / Amhara Regional State Irrigation Scheme / Oromia Region Irrigation Scheme / Tigray Region Irrigation Scheme
(Location: IWMI HQ Call no: IWMI 631.7 G136 AWU Record No: H040631)
(462KB)
2 Desalegn, D. T.; Awulachew, Seleshi Bekele; Moges, S. A. 2008. Blue Nile (Abay) hydropower potential, prioritization and tradeoffs on priority investments. In Abtew, W.; Melesse, A. M. (Eds.). Proceedings of the Workshop on Hydrology and Ecology of the Nile River Basin under Extreme Conditions, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, 16-19 June 2008. Sandy, UT, USA: Aardvark Global Publishing. pp.294.
River basins ; Water power ; Energy resources / Africa / Ethiopia / Blue Nile River Basin / Abbay River Basin
(Location: IWMI HQ Call no: e-copy only Record No: H041749)
Ethiopia is among countries which has very low modern energy sources. The topographic feature and the available water of Ethiopia permit to have a large hydropower potential. However, as the available runoff in rivers has very high hydrological variability, tapping in to this potential require investment on storage to smooth the temporal hydrological variability. In this paper, first the behaviour of this hydrological variability and implication of water resources development is discussed. Secondly, various documents and reports provide varying values of hydropower potential of Ethiopia and Abbay. To close the information gap, topographical and hydrological site evaluation for the selected hydropower potential sites have been carried out, for 129 possible potentials sites which are identified by WAPCOS in 1990 and having total capacity of 13,845 MW. After evaluations these sites 91 possible sites with potential of 12,148 MW are identified and mapped under various sub-basins. Dabus sub-basin stands first among the 16 sub-basins by 13 hydropower potential sites and these sites give 3524MW. In order to exploit the available hydropower potential in the country, it is crucial to rank these sites. The ranking of these sites have been carried out based on cost per kilowatt hour of the hydropower potential (HP) sites. Furthermore, the paper discusses the benefits and tradeoffs for four priority development identified by ENTRO as Eastern Nile fast track projects.
3 Awulachew, Seleshi Bekele; Erkossa, Teklu; Smakhtin, Vladimir; Fernando, Ashra. (Comps.) 2009. Improved water and land management in the Ethiopian highlands: its impact on downstream stakeholders dependent on the Blue Nile. Intermediate Results Dissemination Workshop held at the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, 5-6 February 2009. Summary report, abstracts of papers with proceedings on CD-ROM. Colombo, Sri Lanka: International Water Management Institute (IWMI). 48p. [doi: https://doi.org/10.3910/2009.201]
River basin management ; Water governance ; Environmental flows ; Simulation models ; Reservoirs ; Sedimentation ; Rainfall-Runoff relationships ; Hydrology ; Water balance ; Erosion ; Soil conservation ; Watersheds ; Irrigation schemes ; Water use / Ethiopia / Sudan / Blue Nile / Lake Tana Subbasin / Gumera Watershed / Roseires Reservoir / Rahad Scheme / Abbay River Basin
(Location: IWMI HQ Call no: IWMI 333.9162 G100 AWU Record No: H042497)
4 Awulachew, Seleshi Bekele; Erkossa, Teklu; Smakhtin, Vladimir; Fernando, Ashra. (Comps.) 2009. Improved water and land management in the Ethiopian highlands: its impact on downstream stakeholders dependent on the Blue Nile. Intermediate Results Dissemination Workshop held at the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, 5-6 February 2009. Colombo, Sri Lanka: International Water Management Institute (IWMI). 310p. [doi: https://doi.org/10.5337/2011.0014]
River basin management ; Watershed management ; Farming systems ; Water balance ; Reservoirs ; Water supply ; Irrigation requirements ; Irrigation programs ; Simulation models ; Sedimentation ; Rainfall-Runoff relationships ; Erosion ; Soil water ; Water balance ; Soil conservation ; Institutions ; Organizations ; Policy ; Water governance ; International waters / Africa / Ethiopia / Sudan / Nile River / Blue Nile River Basin / Abbay River Basin / Roseires Reservoir / Gumera Watershed / Lake Tana Sub Basin / Volta Basin / Koga Watershed / Gumera Watershed
(Location: IWMI HQ Call no: IWMI 333.9162 G100 AWU Record No: H042503)
(6.52 MB)
This proceeding provides the papers and discussion results of a two-day workshop that was organized at International Water Management Institute (IWMI) office in Addis Ababa during the period of February 6-8, 2009 in relation to CPWF Project 19 – Improved water and land management in the Ethiopian Highlands and its impact on downstream stakeholders dependent on the Blue Nile. Short title: Upstream Downstream (USDS) in the Nile. The project is being under implementation during the last one and half years in partnership with various institutions that include International Livestock Research Institute, Cornell University, Omdurman Islamic University-UNESCO Chair in Water Resources, Addis Ababa University, Bahir Dar University, Amhara Regional Agricultural Research Institute and Forum for Social Studies. The main aims of the workshop had been: Bring together key stakeholders relevant to the project; Present, debate and validate the intermediate results of the project; Disseminate key results to wider audiences through workshop participating stakeholders; Follow up on the progress of the project and plan remaining tasks of the project. The workshop focus themes were: General characterization of the Blue Nile Basin; Watershed modeling and analysis; Water demand and allocation modeling and simulation; Policy and institutions of the water management in the Blue Nile basin.
5 Wubet, F. D.; Awulachew, Seleshi Bekele; Moges, A. 2009. Analysis of water use on a large river basin using MIKE BASIN Model: a case study of the Abbay River Basin, Ethiopia. In Awulachew, Seleshi Bekele; Erkossa, Teklu; Smakhtin, Vladimir; Fernando, Ashra (Comps.). Improved water and land management in the Ethiopian highlands: its impact on downstream stakeholders dependent on the Blue Nile. Intermediate Results Dissemination Workshop held at the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, 5-6 February 2009. Colombo, Sri Lanka: International Water Management Institute (IWMI). pp.70-77.
River basins ; Water use ; Water allocation ; Simulation models ; Irrigation programs ; Water power / Ethiopia / Abbay River Basin / Blue Nile River Basin
(Location: IWMI HQ Call no: IWMI 333.9162 G100 AWU Record No: H042508)
(0.61 MB)
The purpose of this study is to simulate water allocation for major activities (existing and planned) in the Abbay Basin using up-to-date water allocation and simulation models. The model, MIKE BASIN, is used to gain an insight into the potential downstream consequences of the development of physical infrastructure and water abstraction in a number of different future development scenarios. Seventeen irrigation projects covering an area of 220,416 hectares (ha) of land have been selected from different gauged catchments of the sub-basin in addition to 4,800 megawatt (MW) hydropower projects on the main stream of the study area (Ethiopian part of Blue Nile). From the analysis, the total water extracted for these irrigation projects was estimated to be 1.624 billion cubic meters (BCM) annually. A reduction in the border flow volume as a result of the implementation of these irrigation projects under the reservoir scenario is 3.04% of the estimated mean annual flow of 50.45 BCM. Similarly, from the analysis, the total power generated due to the development of the major hydropower projects on the main stream, having an installed capacity of 4,800 MW, is 18,432 gigawatt hours (GWh) per year. This implies, while these interventions provide significant opportunities with respect to interventions and energy generations, their impact on downstream water availability is minimal.
6 Mapedza, Everisto; Haileslassie, A.; Hagos, Fitsum; McCartney, Matthew; Awulachew, Seleshi Bekele; Tafesse, T. 2009. Transboundary water governance institutional architecture: reflections from Ethiopia and Sudan. In Awulachew, Seleshi Bekele; Erkossa, Teklu; Smakhtin, Vladimir; Fernando, Ashra (Comps.). Improved water and land management in the Ethiopian highlands: its impact on downstream stakeholders dependent on the Blue Nile. Intermediate Results Dissemination Workshop held at the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, 5-6 February 2009. Colombo, Sri Lanka: International Water Management Institute (IWMI). pp.246-253.
Water governance ; Institutions ; International waters ; International cooperation ; River basin management / Africa / Ethiopia / Sudan / Blue Nile River Basin / Abbay River Basin
(Location: IWMI HQ Call no: IWMI 333.9162 G100 AWU Record No: H042520)
(0.35 MB)
Transboundary water resource governance is premised on equitable water and water-related benefit sharing. Using the case of the Blue Nile (Ethiopia and Sudan), we explore the conceptual issues that need consideration in the crafting of cross-border cooperation within the water sector. First, drawing on global experiences with transboundary water management, we evaluate how upstream and downstream concerns are addressed by transboundary water management institutions. Second, we explore the kinds of institutional design and the issues which need to be considered to result in ‘win-win’ scenarios for both upstream and downstream users, as well as the mechanisms of benefit sharing negotiated amongst different stakeholders. Third, we examine ways of addressing equity and livelihoods in transboundary institutional arrangements. Finally, we attempt to assess how transboundary institutions can address broader historical, political and economic issues and their implications for sustainable transboundary water governance. This paper raises key issues that need to be addressed in establishing transboundary governance institutions.
7 Fetene, F.; Awulachew, Seleshi Bekele; Teklie, N. 2009. Development of rainfall-runoff-sediment discharge relationship in the Blue Nile Basin. In Awulachew, Seleshi Bekele; Erkossa, Teklu; Smakhtin, Vladimir; Fernando, Ashra (Comps.). Improved water and land management in the Ethiopian highlands: its impact on downstream stakeholders dependent on the Blue Nile. Intermediate Results Dissemination Workshop held at the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, 5-6 February 2009. Colombo, Sri Lanka: International Water Management Institute (IWMI). pp.112-131.
Hydrology ; Simulation models ; Calibration ; River basins ; Water balance ; Sedimentary materials ; Rainfall-runoff relationships ; Erosion / Africa / Ethiopia / Blue Nile River Basin / Abbay River Basin
(Location: IWMI HQ Call no: IWMI 333.9162 G100 AWU Record No: H042512)
(0.90 MB)
The Blue Nile (Abbay) Basin lies in the western part of Ethiopia between 70 45'-120 45' N and 340 05'-390 45' E. The Blue Nile region is the main contributor to flood flows of the Nile, with a mean annual discharge of 48.5 km3. Soil erosion is a major problem in Ethiopia. Deforestation, overgrazing, and poor land management accelerated the rate of erosion. The SWAT was successfully calibrated and validated for measured streamflow at Bahir Dar near Kessie and at the border of Sudan for flow gauging stations, and for measured sediment yield at Gilgel Abbay, Addis Zemen and near Kessie gauging stations in the Blue Nile Basin. The model performance evaluation statistics (Nash–Sutcliffe model efficiency (ENS) and coefficient of determination (r²)) are in the acceptable range (r2 in the range 0.71 to 0.91 and ENS in the range 0.65 to 0.90). It was found that the Guder, N. Gojam and Jemma subbasins are the severely eroded areas with 34% of sediment yield of the Blue Nile coming from these subbasins. Similarly, the Dinder, Beshilo and Rahad sub basins only cover 7% of sediment yield of the basin. The annual average sediment yield is 4.26 t/ha/yr and the total is 91.3 million tons for the whole Blue Nile Basin in Ethiopia.
8 Desalegn, D. T.; Awulachew, Seleshi Bekele; Moges, S. A. 2011. Blue Nile (Abay) hydropower potential, prioritization, and trade-offs on priority investments. In Melesse, A. M. (Ed.). Nile River Basin: hydrology, climate and water use. Dordrecht, Netherlands: Springer. pp.321-334.
River basins ; Water power ; Energy resources ; Mapping / Ethiopia / Blue Nile River Basin / Abbay River Basin
(Location: IWMI HQ Call no: 551.483 G136 MEL Record No: H044036)
(0.30 MB)
9 Erkossa, Teklu; Awulachew, Seleshi Bekele; Denekew, Aster. 2011. Soil fertility effect on water productivity of maize in the Upper Blue Nile Basin, Ethiopia. Agricultural Sciences, 2(3):238-247. [doi: https://doi.org/10.4236/as.2011.23032]
Soil fertility ; Water productivity ; Crop production ; Maize ; River basins ; Farming systems ; Simulation models ; Water balance / Ethiopia / Upper Blue Nile Basin / Abbay River Basin
(Location: IWMI HQ Call no: e-copy only Record No: H044239)
http://www.scirp.org/journal/PaperDownload.aspx?paperID=6783&returnUrl=http%3a%2f%2fwww.scirp.org%2fjournal%2fPaperInformation.aspx%3fpaperID%3d6783%26publishStatus%3d2
https://vlibrary.iwmi.org/pdf/H044239.pdf
https://vlibrary.iwmi.org/pdf/H044239.pdf
(0.69 MB) (702.66KB)
Maize (Zea mays) is among the major cereals grown in the high rainfall areas of the sub- Saharan Africa’s (SSA) such as the Ethiopian part of the Blue Nile basin. However, its pro- ductivity is severely constrained by poor soil, water and crop management practices. This study simulated water productivity of the crop under varying soil fertility scenarios (poor, near optimal and non limiting) using hybrid seeds under rainfed conditions using the FAO Aqua- Crop model. The result indicated that grain yield of maize increased from 2.5 tons·ha–1 under poor to 6.4 and 9.2 tons·ha–1 with near optimal and non-limiting soil fertility conditions. Corres- pondingly, soil evaporation decreased from 446 mm to 285 and 204 mm, while transpiration increased from 146 to 268 and 355 mm. Conse- quently, grain water productivity was increased by 48% and 54%, respectively, with the near optimal and non-limiting soil fertility conditions. The water productivity gain mainly comes from reduced evaporation and increased transpi- ration without significantly affecting water left for downstream ecosystem services. Therefore, this has a huge implication for a basin scale water management planning for various pur- poses.
10 Yalew, S. G.; van Griensven, A.; Mul, Marloes L.; van der Zaag, P. 2016. Land suitability analysis for agriculture in the Abbay basin using remote sensing, GIS and AHP techniques. Modeling Earth Systems and Environment, 2:1-14. [doi: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40808-016-0167-x]
Land suitability ; Farmland ; Remote sensing ; Geographical Information Systems ; River basins ; Land cover ; Land degradation ; Intensification ; Extensification ; Erosion ; Catchment areas ; Agricultural production ; Soil properties ; Soil water / Ethiopia / Blue Nile River Basin / Abbay River Basin
(Location: IWMI HQ Call no: e-copy only Record No: H047628)
http://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007%2Fs40808-016-0167-x.pdf
https://vlibrary.iwmi.org/pdf/H047628.pdf
https://vlibrary.iwmi.org/pdf/H047628.pdf
To meet growing population demands for food and other agricultural commodities, agricultural land-use intensification and extensification seems to be increasing in the Abbay (Upper Blue Nile) basin in Ethiopia. However, the amount, location and degree of suitability of the basin for agriculture seem not well studied and/or documented. From global data sources, literature review and field investigation, a number of agricultural land suitability evaluation criteria were identified. These criteria were preprocessed as raster layers on a GIS platform and weights of criteria raster layers in determining suitability were computed using the analytic hierarchy process (AHP). A weighted overlay analysis method was used to compute categories of highly suitable, moderately suitable, marginally suitable and unsuitable lands for agriculture in the basin. It was found out that 53.8 % of the basin’s land coverage was highly suitable for agriculture and 23.2 % was moderately suitable. The marginally suitable and the unsuitable lands were at 11 and 12 % respectively. From the analysis, regions of the basin with high suitability as well as those with higher susceptibility for land degradation and soil erosion were identified.
11 Tessema, I.; Simane, B. 2021. Smallholder farmers’ perception and adaptation to climate variability and change in Fincha sub-basin of the Upper Blue Nile River Basin of Ethiopia. GeoJournal, 86(4):1767-1783. [doi: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10708-020-10159-7]
Climate change adaptation ; Smallholders ; Farmers' attitudes ; River basins ; Agroecosystems ; Livestock ; Diversification ; Rain ; Temperature ; Households / Ethiopia / Upper Blue Nile River Basin / Abbay River Basin / Fincha Sub-Basin
(Location: IWMI HQ Call no: e-copy only Record No: H050522)
https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/s10708-020-10159-7.pdf
https://vlibrary.iwmi.org/pdf/H050522.pdf
https://vlibrary.iwmi.org/pdf/H050522.pdf
(1.25 MB) (1.25 MB)
Climate variability and change make agricultural sector a risky venture for smallholders’ farmers. This paper presents an assessment of smallholder farmers’ perceptions of climate variability and change, associated impacts on agricultural sector and the adaptive responses given in Fincha’a sub-basin of the Blue Nile River Basin of Ethiopia. We interviewed 380 head of households selected through systematic random sampling from eight Kebeles, two each from highland, midland, wetland, and lowland agro-ecosystems. Furthermore, focus group discussion and key informant interviews also performed to supplement and substantiate the quantitative data. Descriptive statistics used to summarize quantitative data and 2 tests used to measure significance. The result revealed that increased temperature, frequency and severity of extreme weather events (drought and flood), and overall change in seasonality of rainfall over the last 20 years is a widely held perception. The associated impacts on agriculture include decline in length of growing period, the decreased and variability of water availability, increased crop damage by insects, pests, disease and weeds. In response, farmers practiced different adaptation measures like modification in crop and livestock production practices, and investment in land and water management activities at household and community level. The study also revealed the presence of multiple barriers that hindered the adoption of adaptation measures. To meet the impending challenges, situate by climate variability and change the adaptation measures implemented until now is not adequate. There is also extrication between farmers’ perceptions of climate variability and change, and actual adaptation level. Despite significant number of farmers’ perceived changes in temperature (about 93%) and rainfall (about 88%), the number of farmers adopted certain adaptation measures are below average. These necessitate the need for planned interventions to identify and support effective adaptation measures.
12 Alemu, A. M.; Seleshi, Y.; Meshesha, T. W. 2022. Modeling the spatial and temporal availability of water resources potential over Abbay River Basin, Ethiopia. Journal of Hydrology: Regional Studies, 44:101280. [doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ejrh.2022.101280]
Water resources ; Water balance ; River basins ; Hydrological modelling ; Calibration ; Water yield ; Evapotranspiration ; Land use ; Land cover ; Watersheds ; Rain ; Sensitivity analysis / Ethiopia / Abbay River Basin
(Location: IWMI HQ Call no: e-copy only Record No: H051531)
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2214581822002932/pdfft?md5=9bb4af3335275173ee03eda9dbe39f40&pid=1-s2.0-S2214581822002932-main.pdf
https://vlibrary.iwmi.org/pdf/H051531.pdf
https://vlibrary.iwmi.org/pdf/H051531.pdf
(11.80 MB) (11.8 MB)
Study region: Abbay River Basin, Ethiopia.
Study focus: This research focused on assessing the spatio-temporal availability and variability of water resources potential using physically based hydrological model. The availability and spatial variability of water balance components were modeled for each subbasins of Abbay River basin.
New hydrological insights for the region: Multi statistical performance criteria proved that ArcSWAT model has the capacity to reproduce flows that agree with the measured flows at daily time scale simulation and found as applicable over Abbay River basin. The Calibration and Validation were done at different subbasins. The result revealed that the performance of the model well improved as the basin was partitioned into subbasins. For reproduction of the measured flow at different flow segments, the model performed very good especially for high and peak flows segments. The rainfall distribution revealed that the basin is characterized by high spatial and temporal variation of rainfall. Three fourth of the annual rainfall was contributed from June to September. The water balance components analysis proved that Evapotranspiration is high over the basin which covers more than half (55.20 %) of the annual rainfall. Water yield (WYLD_Qmm) covers only 21.73 % of the annual rainfall. This research can be used as basis to give emphasis on water resources potential modeling in the future considering climate and land use changes.
Study focus: This research focused on assessing the spatio-temporal availability and variability of water resources potential using physically based hydrological model. The availability and spatial variability of water balance components were modeled for each subbasins of Abbay River basin.
New hydrological insights for the region: Multi statistical performance criteria proved that ArcSWAT model has the capacity to reproduce flows that agree with the measured flows at daily time scale simulation and found as applicable over Abbay River basin. The Calibration and Validation were done at different subbasins. The result revealed that the performance of the model well improved as the basin was partitioned into subbasins. For reproduction of the measured flow at different flow segments, the model performed very good especially for high and peak flows segments. The rainfall distribution revealed that the basin is characterized by high spatial and temporal variation of rainfall. Three fourth of the annual rainfall was contributed from June to September. The water balance components analysis proved that Evapotranspiration is high over the basin which covers more than half (55.20 %) of the annual rainfall. Water yield (WYLD_Qmm) covers only 21.73 % of the annual rainfall. This research can be used as basis to give emphasis on water resources potential modeling in the future considering climate and land use changes.
Powered by DB/Text WebPublisher, from
