Water flow measurements with the Rift Valley Lakes Basin Administration Office in Southern Ethiopia
27 August 2024The pressure on the lakes in the Ziway-Shalla sub-basin is increasing, irrigated horticulture and agriculture among the main water users. As a result, Lake Abijata was shrinking in its size. The basin has multiple important socio-economic, water security and environmental functions. Therefore, it is important to improve water management practices. To deal with the diverse stakes of multiple stakeholders, fair and transparent water management is needed. The Rift Lake Valley Basin Administration Office (RVLBAO) has the mandate to do so, but it still faces challenges in properly managing the water resources found within the Ziway-Shalla Basin.
World Waternet is supporting the RVLBAO on making a Water Allocation Planning, Stakeholder Management, Basin and Information Management and Water tariffing and permitting. Since 2019 multiple trainings have taken place, and many successes have been achieved:
- Creating and implementing a Water Allocation Plan
- Installation of a data center,
- Installation of 7 telemetric stations, which automatically transmit data to the data center
- Trainings on doing measurements, data collection, data storage and maintenance
- Processing of the data: Building water level/discharge curves
- Consultations with MoWE on how to link the collected data at national level
- Involvement with CBOs on restoration activities upstream and measurement of reduction in erosion
- Awareness raising amongst farmers on the need for water tariffing in the future
More data needed
In order for the telemetric stations to fully work, we need to capture more data on water flow rate. The telemetric stations capture the water level, precipitation, water temperature and electric conductivity and send these data to the data centre in the office. Then, to determine the flow rate from a distance, the Basin Administration Office needs to know the flow rate at multiple water levels, throughout the year. From this water flow data the partner will create a rating curve, this rating curve can be used to convert the water level data in flow data to gain continuous insight in water flow. And that water flow data is exactly what we have measured and are going to measure the coming months! In July, August, September and October the team will go again. At the same time, important data has been collected on water quality. The samples have been taken to the lab for further testing.
Challenging area
It takes half a day of driving from the office to reach the places where the telemetric stations are installed. Whereas in the Netherlands most places can easily be reached, these vast distances form a challenge for the RVLBAO as it takes a lot of effort, time and fuel. While reaching one of the places we found that the station had been destroyed and some materials had been stolen. As these stations are far from the office, it is hard to frequently check on them. Moreover, not every telemetric station is safe to visit due to local rebels creating turmoil, making it even more challenging.
Gaining experience
During these visits throughout the year, the team is able to gain more experience, while having support from World Waternet closeby. Now, the things they have learned during the trainings in the past years can really be consolidated, so that in the end the team can fully operate the telemetric stations independently. This will allow for the water management in the area to be only more improved!
About the project Ziway-Shalla Basin in Balance
In 2019 the project Ziway-Shalla Basin in Balance (ZSBiB) kicked off, consisting of six partners (Stichting Wetlands International (consortium lead), Rift Valley Lakes Basin Administration office, Meki Batu Cooperative Union, Joytech, Acacia Water B.V and Stichting Wereld Waternet), funded by RVO (Netherlands enterprise agency), aiming for more sustainable water management in the basin. Wetlands International Wetlands led the work on supporting smallholder farmers to improve their productivity and water use efficiency, and undertaking a range of watershed interventions at the most critical sites, generating on-farm benefits for upland farmers while increasing their awareness about unsustainable land management. World Waternet was in charge on the support of the local public authorities responsible for the basin management and enhancing he organization with the right infrastructure and capacities to manage the basis resources responsibly. The projects closed off in 2024, with an extension of the budget for the RVLBAO to continue doing the ADCP measurements.
Please watch the video below for more information:[Documentary] Drops of Hope – Restoring Balance in Ziway-Shalla sub-basin (youtube.com) ()
