Sustainable Land & Watershed Management Interventions and Impact Workshop. Hilton Hotel, Addis Ababa, May 10, 2013.

1. Water for a food-secure world
Integrated Rainwater Management
Strategies in the Blue Nile Basin of the
Ethiopian Highlands
Birhanu Zemadim, Matthew McCartney, Simon Langan and Bharat Sharma
International Water Management Institute

2. Water for a food-secure worldWater for a food-secure world
Background
Ethiopian highlands of the Blue Nile Basin;
– Have enormous agricultural and natural resources potential
– Mean annual rainfall 900-2500mm
• Is not easily retained in the form of surface/ground water
• Much of the water is lost to runoff
– Majority of people are rain-dependant
– Fragile landscapes
• Poverty and marginalization of the rural villagers

3. Water for a food-secure worldWater for a food-secure world
Common Problems and Results
• Land degradation and water scarcity
• Poor land management practices and lack of focus on Rain
water management Strategies (RWS)
i. Existing structures to harvest rainwater were not built to the
required standard,
ii. Structures cannot contain enough water,
iii. No close supervision of the structures,
iv. The approaches lack community cooperation,
v. Most structures were built rapidly with poor planning and lack
of decentralized ownership systems
• Hardship and insecurity
– Inability to safeguard livelihood systems
• The vicious cycle of poverty is aggravated
Results of poor RMS
to the local
community

4. Water for a food-secure worldWater for a food-secure world
Major goal of RMS
• Improving the resilience of rural communities,
• Contributing to poverty reduction,
o Improve the quality of life of rural communities
• The goal is achieved through natural resources regeneration and
management (watershed approach)
o Restoration of the local environment through RW Harvesting (RWH)
o Focus on the entire watershed and integrated community-led approaches
• Need to have an environmental unit for planning and
implementation

5. Water for a food-secure worldWater for a food-secure world
Existing Practices of RMS in Ethiopia
• Traditional RWH techniques,
– Runoff farming closely related to Soil Water Conservation (SWC)
– Dated back to 1970
– Targets reducing soil erosion with little or no interest in enhancing soil water infiltration
• In-situ water harvesting techniques,
micro-basins
• From 40,000 RWH ponds constructed between 2003 and 2008 in
Amhara and Tigray region of Ethiopia, most have failed (AMU, 2009),
• Slow uptake by local farmers,
• The technologies are rarely sufficiently adapted to local conditions,

6. Water for a food-secure worldWater for a food-secure world
One of failed rainwater harvesting
structure in in FOGERA district
Non functional hand pump in MADA
JALALA AREA, DIGA district, EAST WOLLEGA
Flooding in FOGERA district
Status of Existing Structures and natural phenomenon
Water fetching in Mizewa highland

7. Water for a food-secure worldWater for a food-secure world
Existing Practices of RMS in Ethiopia
• Protecting forested areas and reducing soil erosion by building
terraces and planting tree seedlings since the mid-1970s
o Resulted in limited success (Bishaw, 2001)
• Emerging successful stories of RMS programs in Ethiopia:
o As part of Sustainable Land Management (SLM) project by MoARD,
Projects are showcased in Amhara, Oromiya, Tigray and Somali
region include various technologies and approaches to increase in-situ
water availability and increase aquifer recharge

8. Water for a food-secure worldWater for a food-secure world
Towards effective RMS….. Lessons learnt
o the full range of water storage options in catchments need to be
considered. These are water storage in:
soil moisture, wetlands, water harvesting structures and groundwater
• Are best achieved on a micro-catchment basis-environmental unit
• The approach emphasizes self-help, ecological regeneration and
“catching rain wherever it falls”
• The principle addresses the need to work on different water
storages options

9. Water for a food-secure worldWater for a food-secure world
Conceptualization of the physical water storage continuum
after McCartney and Smakhtin, 2010

10. Water for a food-secure worldWater for a food-secure world
Planting trees and grasses to stabilize
waterways and provide fodder and fuel wood
Instituting bans on tree felling and grazing for
natural regeneration of shrubs and grasses
Training villagers in new or improved
agricultural practices and livelihood activities
Supporting cottage industries and supplemental
income generation through micro-lending schemes

11. Water for a food-secure worldWater for a food-secure world
RMS through watershed development approach:-
hydraulic structures & management
• Three basic operations
– Area Treatments
– Drainage Line
Treatments
– Afforestation and
pasture development
• The operations need to be
conducted from ridge to valley at
a watershed level

12. Water for a food-secure worldWater for a food-secure world
Continuous Contour Trenches (CCT) or hillside terraces
• The technology avoids the use of stones in
farmlands and has got positive perception of its
usefulness and active promotion by extension
service in Ethiopia (SLMP, 2010).
CCT / Hill side trenches
Area Treatments
• Has its origin in India and has been practiced in Blue
Nile basin, Tigray region, North Shoa and Awash
basin (SLMP, 2010)
• Result in control of erosion, retention of soil fertility,
better soil moisture regime, infiltration and ground
water recharge
• Are practiced in low to high rainfall (250-3000mm)
regimes, and mild to steeper slopes (5 to greater than
60% slopes)

13. Water for a food-secure worldWater for a food-secure world
Stone/Soil bunds
Stone Bunds across the slope
• Is widely adopted by many farmers in Ethiopia to retain
rainwater that becomes runoff and later causes erosion
• Is essentially a water harvesting practice
intended to store rainwater for crop
production and enhance ground water
recharge
• Arrest the flow of water and control erosion
in areas where soil work is not possible
The technology has been practiced in Blue Nile basin, Tigray
region, North Shoa and Awash basin (SLMP, 2010)

14. Water for a food-secure worldWater for a food-secure world
Vegetation bunds and plantation along CCTs
Vegetation Bunds and
plantations along CCTs
Photo from INDIA
• Are practiced in high rainfall regimes and
steeper slopes to reduce the effect of flood
problems
• Found to be suitable to steeper areas
receiving high rainfall
• to enhance moisture and water
harvesting,
•increase biomass, conserve water and
control erosion.
• Effective soil erosion control and prevention
of gully erosion (SLMP, 2010)

15. Water for a food-secure worldWater for a food-secure world
Biophysical measures integrated with area enclosures
• Are common practices to help maintain
the productivity of degraded land which
has been abandoned
• Unproductive and waste lands are changed to
productive land by the prevention and reduction of
erosion and enhance land rehabilitation (SLMP,
2010).
Paved and grassed water way technology

16. Water for a food-secure worldWater for a food-secure world
Drainage Line Treatments
Begin from the top of the
watershed
• Series of gully plugs and
earthen and stone dams
• Check dams and percolation
tanks
Gully plugs along drainage line

17. Water for a food-secure worldWater for a food-secure world
Agro-forestry system and Pasture development
• Include growing of various crops
(perennial trees and shrubs with
annual crops)
o Meet household needs of fruits,
fuel, fodder, timber and fiber
o Add organic matter to the soil
o Control erosion
o Slow runoff and accelerate
infiltration
o Higher income and less biotic
pressure on grazing grounds

18. Water for a food-secure worldWater for a food-secure world
as part of Integrated RMS …
Biophysical Research
Monitoring and Modeling

19. Water for a food-secure worldWater for a food-secure world
Watershed approach towards
effective RMS …..

20. Water for a food-secure worldWater for a food-secure world
Research Sites
In areas (called “study landscapes”) representing dominant
agro-ecological zones and farming systems
Fogera: a relatively high
potential, market-oriented,
rice–based system);
Jeldu; a relatively low-
potential system with
steep agro-ecological
gradients
Diga/Dapo: a relatively
high potential system with
poor market access but
with high value crops and
livestock potential

21. Water for a food-secure world
A Participatory Approach for Hydro-meteorological
Monitoring

22. Water for a food-secure worldWater for a food-secure world
Monitoring provides biophysical information
that can be used to evaluate the impacts
of RMS on hydrological flows as well as to
determine water-use and water
productivity in different landscape
components

23. Water for a food-secure worldWater for a food-secure world
Example of natural variability in rainfall and flow, in Fogera District
(Data from 1992-2003)
From May to October average rainfall record > 50 mm
Long-term MAR is 1330 and 511 Mm3 for Gumara and Ribb
Total flow volume of 1841 Mm3

24. Water for a food-secure worldWater for a food-secure world
• Average per capita water availability is 2595 m3 per year
– A figure higher than both the national figure (1707 m3) and
basin figure (2029 m3).
• Heavy floods in the rainy season are typically followed by
water shortages during the dry season
• Much of the available water in the area remains unutilized

25. Water for a food-secure worldWater for a food-secure world
Case study Mizewa watershed: Flooding
Photo taken in August 2012

26. Water for a food-secure worldWater for a food-secure world
Case study Mizewa watershed: Drought
Photo taken in March 2013

27. Water for a food-secure worldWater for a food-secure world
Dry season water search in Fogera
February to May

28. Water for a food-secure worldWater for a food-secure world
Establishment of 3 watershed monitoring networks in the Blue Nile
Basin of Ethiopian highlands

29. Water for a food-secure worldWater for a food-secure world
Monitoring Locations
Dapo watershed 18 km2
Mizewa watershed 27 km2
Meja watershed 96 km2

30. Water for a food-secure worldWater for a food-secure world
Methodology
• A participatory approach involving local community
and other stakeholders
• A scientific approach -the application of scientific
and engineering principles in design, construction
and installation of the component structures
• Activities undertaken
– inception of idea/stakeholder identification
– designing the network
– installing the network
– monitoring and maintaining the network
– collating, quality control and data archiving
– communication and feedback mechanisms

31. Water for a food-secure worldWater for a food-secure world
Community consultation Community engagement in installation of soil
moisture and ground water level devices
Monitoring Soil moisture and ground water level
Weather station installation

32. Water for a food-secure worldWater for a food-secure world
Challenges
Vandalism
• This relates primarily to the automatic flow
gauging stations, located on road bridges
at the outlet of each watershed
Flood damage

33. Water for a food-secure worldWater for a food-secure world
Flood damage

34. Water for a food-secure worldWater for a food-secure world
Main outcomes of a participatory approach
conducted in the three watersheds:
– identifications of appropriate sites for hydrologic
monitoring
– reduction of costs of installation and maintenance
– provision of security to the installed network
– instilling a sense of ownership within the local
communities

35. Water for a food-secure worldWater for a food-secure world
Biophysical data monitoring for improved decisions making
Full scale, high resolution hydro-meteorological
monitoring will improve decisions towards
appropriate rainwater management strategies
(RMS) and hence livelihood improvement
Appropriate basin wide decision support tools based on
hydrological and agro-ecological systems is required
to prioritize sustainable RMS, and study
downstream impacts and eco-system services

36. Water for a food-secure worldWater for a food-secure world
Watershed Management Practices
and
Hydrological Modeling……………..