Groundwater recharge of Robit - Bata Experimental Watershed, Lake Tana Basin, Ethiopia [Abstract only]

Irrigation development is a policy priority for the Laka Tana basin. However available baseflow can irrigate less than 3% of area. The irrigated area can be increased from water stored in constructed reservoirs, pumping water from Lake Tana and by using groundwater. While groundwater has the greates...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Yiak, D. L., Tilahun, Seifu A., Schmitter, Petra S., Nakawuka, Prossie, Steenhuis, Tammo S.
Format: Conference Paper
Language:Inglés
Published: 2015
Subjects:
Online Access:https://hdl.handle.net/10568/75752
_version_ 1855528853570584576
author Yiak, D. L.
Tilahun, Seifu A.
Schmitter, Petra S.
Nakawuka, Prossie
Steenhuis, Tammo S.
author_browse Nakawuka, Prossie
Schmitter, Petra S.
Steenhuis, Tammo S.
Tilahun, Seifu A.
Yiak, D. L.
author_facet Yiak, D. L.
Tilahun, Seifu A.
Schmitter, Petra S.
Nakawuka, Prossie
Steenhuis, Tammo S.
author_sort Yiak, D. L.
collection Repository of Agricultural Research Outputs (CGSpace)
description Irrigation development is a policy priority for the Laka Tana basin. However available baseflow can irrigate less than 3% of area. The irrigated area can be increased from water stored in constructed reservoirs, pumping water from Lake Tana and by using groundwater. While groundwater has the greatest potential for increasing irrigation in the near future, the main drawback is a lack of information on sustainable groundwater use and specifically the ground water recharge. Therefore the objective of this research is to calculate the annual recharge to the ground water. The study is conducted in Robit-Bata, an experimental watershed of 911 ha, located at the south-eastern edge of Lake Tana. Farmers have excavated more than 300 hand dug wells for irrigation and we used 50 shallow groundwater wells and observed water table fluctuation and precipitation for the past one year. The annual recharge was estimated using water – level fluctuation method. Specific yield was taken to be the difference of porosity and field capacity of the subsurface formation. The annual average areal groundwater recharge of the watershed was 200 mm/year, which is 12% of the rainfall and ranged from 80mm to 500mm for the various locations in the watershed. The greatest recharge amounts were found at the foot of the hillside in river course plane areas consisting mostly weathered basalt rock. Here the groundwater was up to 15 m deep and rose steadily during the rainy monsoon phase. Smaller amount of recharge occurred both near the top of the hills with tough rock formation and in the, flat areas near to stream sandy and clay deposits and groundwater at, shallow well depth. Our study indicates that the current use of the groundwater is sustainable, but will become unsustainable if many more wells are constructed. Sufficiency and sustainable use of the shallow groundwater needs further research.
format Conference Paper
id CGSpace75752
institution CGIAR Consortium
language Inglés
publishDate 2015
publishDateRange 2015
publishDateSort 2015
record_format dspace
spelling CGSpace757522025-10-14T15:09:09Z Groundwater recharge of Robit - Bata Experimental Watershed, Lake Tana Basin, Ethiopia [Abstract only] Yiak, D. L. Tilahun, Seifu A. Schmitter, Petra S. Nakawuka, Prossie Steenhuis, Tammo S. groundwater recharge groundwater watersheds water use water table river basins rain Irrigation development is a policy priority for the Laka Tana basin. However available baseflow can irrigate less than 3% of area. The irrigated area can be increased from water stored in constructed reservoirs, pumping water from Lake Tana and by using groundwater. While groundwater has the greatest potential for increasing irrigation in the near future, the main drawback is a lack of information on sustainable groundwater use and specifically the ground water recharge. Therefore the objective of this research is to calculate the annual recharge to the ground water. The study is conducted in Robit-Bata, an experimental watershed of 911 ha, located at the south-eastern edge of Lake Tana. Farmers have excavated more than 300 hand dug wells for irrigation and we used 50 shallow groundwater wells and observed water table fluctuation and precipitation for the past one year. The annual recharge was estimated using water – level fluctuation method. Specific yield was taken to be the difference of porosity and field capacity of the subsurface formation. The annual average areal groundwater recharge of the watershed was 200 mm/year, which is 12% of the rainfall and ranged from 80mm to 500mm for the various locations in the watershed. The greatest recharge amounts were found at the foot of the hillside in river course plane areas consisting mostly weathered basalt rock. Here the groundwater was up to 15 m deep and rose steadily during the rainy monsoon phase. Smaller amount of recharge occurred both near the top of the hills with tough rock formation and in the, flat areas near to stream sandy and clay deposits and groundwater at, shallow well depth. Our study indicates that the current use of the groundwater is sustainable, but will become unsustainable if many more wells are constructed. Sufficiency and sustainable use of the shallow groundwater needs further research. 2015 2016-06-16T09:41:37Z 2016-06-16T09:41:37Z Conference Paper https://hdl.handle.net/10568/75752 en Limited Access Yiak, D. L.; Tilahun, S. A.; Schmitter, Petra; Nakawuka, Prossie; Steenhuis, T. S. 2015. Groundwater recharge of Robit - Bata Experimental Watershed, Lake Tana Basin, Ethiopia [Abstract only] Paper presented at the 3rd International Conference on the Advancements of Science and Technology [ICAST], Bahir Dar, Ethiopia, 8-9 May 2015. 1p.
spellingShingle groundwater recharge
groundwater
watersheds
water use
water table
river basins
rain
Yiak, D. L.
Tilahun, Seifu A.
Schmitter, Petra S.
Nakawuka, Prossie
Steenhuis, Tammo S.
Groundwater recharge of Robit - Bata Experimental Watershed, Lake Tana Basin, Ethiopia [Abstract only]
title Groundwater recharge of Robit - Bata Experimental Watershed, Lake Tana Basin, Ethiopia [Abstract only]
title_full Groundwater recharge of Robit - Bata Experimental Watershed, Lake Tana Basin, Ethiopia [Abstract only]
title_fullStr Groundwater recharge of Robit - Bata Experimental Watershed, Lake Tana Basin, Ethiopia [Abstract only]
title_full_unstemmed Groundwater recharge of Robit - Bata Experimental Watershed, Lake Tana Basin, Ethiopia [Abstract only]
title_short Groundwater recharge of Robit - Bata Experimental Watershed, Lake Tana Basin, Ethiopia [Abstract only]
title_sort groundwater recharge of robit bata experimental watershed lake tana basin ethiopia abstract only
topic groundwater recharge
groundwater
watersheds
water use
water table
river basins
rain
url https://hdl.handle.net/10568/75752
work_keys_str_mv AT yiakdl groundwaterrechargeofrobitbataexperimentalwatershedlaketanabasinethiopiaabstractonly
AT tilahunseifua groundwaterrechargeofrobitbataexperimentalwatershedlaketanabasinethiopiaabstractonly
AT schmitterpetras groundwaterrechargeofrobitbataexperimentalwatershedlaketanabasinethiopiaabstractonly
AT nakawukaprossie groundwaterrechargeofrobitbataexperimentalwatershedlaketanabasinethiopiaabstractonly
AT steenhuistammos groundwaterrechargeofrobitbataexperimentalwatershedlaketanabasinethiopiaabstractonly