Water management in the Awash River Basin: An Introduction
How can Ethiopia improve its freshwater availability before climate change exacerbates the issue?
Is it about increasing access to freshwater or decreasing demand?
Can improvements in water infrastructure secure benefits for poor people and promote equity but also ensure a sustainable and realistic freshwater resource use?
What are the major constraints and how can these be mitigated? Can Ethiopia realistically address freshwater scarcity and advance development as a result?
To answer these important questions, I have decided to focus on the Awash River Basin (Figure 1), since it is regarded to be water resource competition 'hotspot' (e.g. Mosello et al., 2015). The basin is found in the central and northern part of the Rift Valley and covers an area of 110,000 km2. With a population of over 18 million, it is the most utilised basin in Ethiopia (Hailu et al., 2017)!
The current government aims to ensure safe water access for domestic use and increase irrigated agriculture, whilst similarly promote watershed conservation (Hailu et al., 2017). Most importantly, however, the basin is currently experiencing increased water demands and competition from different users and sectors, which impede the viability of improving water management within the basin. These developments include (Mosello et al., 2015):
To complicate matters, the issue is not simply due to there not being enough water: multiple issues over resource use, administration, regulation and control have resulted in freshwater scarcity and stress (Hailu et al., 2017). For instance, three hydropower plants in the basin that generate electricity from Awash streamflow have exacerbated access to water resources. Coupled with the reservoirs losing up to 5m3/s of water from high rates of evaporation, the operation regulations of the plants limit water availability for downstream users (Mosello et al., 2015). Conflicts have emerged between upstream and downstream users for irrigation and hydropower generation.
And, unsurprisingly, climate change is expected to cause a warmer and drier Awash River basin; with a 2C increase in temperature, models suggest there would be reductions in run-off and a resultant decreasing absolute water availability (Hailemariam, 1999), exacerbating competition for the finite water availability and amplifying the need for an effective water management strategy.
Awash River Basin faces quite a conundrum when trying to ensure safe water access for various sectors and users. I will assess various approaches the basin could undertake in order to achieve this aim. These include: the construction and management of hard options (large-scale dams and irrigation schemes), and softer options (decentralisation of facilities, efficient innovations, flexible institutions, and human capital development schemes). My assessment will be nuanced in terms of integrated water resource management (IWRM), specifically whether the approaches respond to increasing pressure and demands from water resource competition in an effective yet equitable and sustainable manner.
Is it about increasing access to freshwater or decreasing demand?
Can improvements in water infrastructure secure benefits for poor people and promote equity but also ensure a sustainable and realistic freshwater resource use?
What are the major constraints and how can these be mitigated? Can Ethiopia realistically address freshwater scarcity and advance development as a result?
To answer these important questions, I have decided to focus on the Awash River Basin (Figure 1), since it is regarded to be water resource competition 'hotspot' (e.g. Mosello et al., 2015). The basin is found in the central and northern part of the Rift Valley and covers an area of 110,000 km2. With a population of over 18 million, it is the most utilised basin in Ethiopia (Hailu et al., 2017)!
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| Figure 1: Awash River Basin (Nigatu Mersha et al., 2016) |
The current government aims to ensure safe water access for domestic use and increase irrigated agriculture, whilst similarly promote watershed conservation (Hailu et al., 2017). Most importantly, however, the basin is currently experiencing increased water demands and competition from different users and sectors, which impede the viability of improving water management within the basin. These developments include (Mosello et al., 2015):
- Expansion in irrigation (both planned and unplanned) has increased agricultural water withdrawal in the basin, which now stands at 2,285 million cubic metres.
- As I mentioned, Addis Ababa is reliant on the Awash for its water demands; with the city’s expansion comes a greater demand for these water resources. Significantly, there are three other expanding urban centres (Adama, Awash and Metehara) that have a resultant increasing demand for Awash water supply. Although a lot less populated than Addis Ababa, these three cities further intensify the growing demand for water within the Awash Basin from urban centres.
- Large-scale industries, such as horticulture and floriculture, and manufacturing abstract intensive amounts of water, adding to water demands within the basin.
To complicate matters, the issue is not simply due to there not being enough water: multiple issues over resource use, administration, regulation and control have resulted in freshwater scarcity and stress (Hailu et al., 2017). For instance, three hydropower plants in the basin that generate electricity from Awash streamflow have exacerbated access to water resources. Coupled with the reservoirs losing up to 5m3/s of water from high rates of evaporation, the operation regulations of the plants limit water availability for downstream users (Mosello et al., 2015). Conflicts have emerged between upstream and downstream users for irrigation and hydropower generation.
And, unsurprisingly, climate change is expected to cause a warmer and drier Awash River basin; with a 2C increase in temperature, models suggest there would be reductions in run-off and a resultant decreasing absolute water availability (Hailemariam, 1999), exacerbating competition for the finite water availability and amplifying the need for an effective water management strategy.
Awash River Basin faces quite a conundrum when trying to ensure safe water access for various sectors and users. I will assess various approaches the basin could undertake in order to achieve this aim. These include: the construction and management of hard options (large-scale dams and irrigation schemes), and softer options (decentralisation of facilities, efficient innovations, flexible institutions, and human capital development schemes). My assessment will be nuanced in terms of integrated water resource management (IWRM), specifically whether the approaches respond to increasing pressure and demands from water resource competition in an effective yet equitable and sustainable manner.
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