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Best Practices Newsletter 15 |
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Utilizing Water Resources for Speedy Development |
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Ethiopia is labeled as" the water tower of Africa". The geographical location of Ethiopia and its endowment with favorable climate provides a relatively higher amount of rainfall in the region. Much of the water, however, flows across the borders being carried away by the Transboundary Rivers to the neighboring countries. Preliminary studies and professional estimates put nation's annual surface runoff at about 122 billion cubic meters excluding ground water. Irrespective of the water resource, the emphasis given to its proper utilization remained minimal. In order to address food security challenges and ensure sustainable development, it is crucial to set priority, draw judicious water resources management policy and effect proper use of the natural resource. Nevertheless, failure to proper exploitation negatively impacted the socio-economic development of Ethiopia. Consequently, not withstanding all the water development activities carried out so far, the average access to clean and safe water stood at only 17 percent. This can be cited as the lowest supply and coverage level even by the standard of the sub-Saharan countries. On the other hand, despite the endowment of Ethiopia with huge irrigable land, the area under development is only three percent, showing that water resources have made little contribution towards the development of agricultural sector in particular and the economy in general. The other major benefit of water resource of Ethiopia is the hydropower potential. The mountainous feature and hydrological conditions enable the country to generate hydroelectric power at the lower cost. Still, Ethiopia was unable to foster and promote entitlement and use of trans-boundary waters, such as the Nile, based on those accepted international norms and conventions endorsed by the country. The issue remained a taboo during both the Imperial and the Dergue regimes.
The major cause of this poor utilization of water resources is attributed to the absence of a well defined water resources management policy and finance. Besides, there was no well delegated institution with clear mission and vision. Even though modern water resource development activities dates back to about four decades and in spite of attempts made to restructure concerned authorities, meeting expectations were illusive as ever. Hence the lack of comprehensive water resources management policy in Ethiopia has so far caused adverse impacts such as:
Access to pure drinking water in Ethiopia was made possible during the reign of Minilik II. However, there were no government authorities responsible for management of the water resources of the country. And as a result, clean drinking water access was limited to few towns located along the main roads out of Addis Ababa. The military government has attempted to supply water to the country by establishing the Water Wells Drilling Enterprise and Water Works Constructions Authority in 1975 and 1980 E.C., respectively. The military regime in its efforts to use the waters of the country also established the Water Resource Commission. However, tangible achievements were hard to come by. For example access to drinking water remained the lowest even by African standards. Contrary to its predecessors, the Government of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, right from the out set made it clear that utilizing water resources is vital for sustainable development of the country. The institution that deals with the water resources of the country established at a diminutive level of a department was restructured to a level of a Ministry of Water Resources in 1995. A policy was also formulated with the belief that an appropriate water management policy for the sector will enhance the development of the country's water resources to make optimum contribution to an accelerated socio-economic growth. The government believes that as far as conditions permit, every citizen shall have access to sufficient water with acceptable quality, meeting basic needs. With such a conviction and commitment, commendable achievements were registered in improving the quality of drinking water and the level of sanitation. Up until 1987 E.C., for instance, there were only 4 million rural people having access to potable water. Currently, 23 percent of the rural population has access to safe drinking water. With the loan secured from the World Bank, a feasibility study and engineering works have been undertaken in all regions to reestablish drinking water providing institutions in 25 towns. By doing so, when the National Water Sector Development Program (2002-2016) is completed, access to pure water at national level is expected to rise to 76 percent (71 Percent in rural and 98.2 percent in urban areas) . Ethiopia is one of the African countries with huge hydropower potential. According to the Public Relations Section with the Ministry of Water Resources, the power in river basins is estimated to generate 161,00 Giga wat per hour/year (/GWh/year.) So far, however, it is only 663GWH/year that is generated. This clearly indicates that the resource is underutilized. But now projects are studied, designed and constructed on the basis of economic viability. To cite but just a few of the undertakings, Tis Abay II construction was completed and is generating 73MW. Gilgel Gibe I is generating 300 MW. The Tekeze hydropower (305 MW), is under construction while projects on Baro,Guder, Geba, Dabus and Chimuga-Yeda, Halele, Worabesa and others are now under survey and preliminary study. Currently, a feasibility study is also underway for three projects in collaboration with the Nile Cooperation Package to generate 2280 MW. Therefore, upon the completion of the 15 years hydropower programme, the provision of power would rise to 4040 Gigawatt per hour per year (GWh/year). Hence the energy to be generated will help Ethiopia earn much needed foreign exchange other than catering for domestic energy demands. Irrigation in Ethiopia has been practiced for ages at household level in a very traditional and backward manner. Medium and large scale schemes, however, are recent developments which began in the Awash basin no more than 50 years ago. The first modern irrigation scheme was developed in Wonji-shoa, in 1950 by a Netherlands company followed by the Koka Irrigation Farm. Irrigation on Awash river covers 67 percent of the total irrigated land. Water can be used to contribute to the national economy through expanding irrigation schemes so that agricultural production is improved by mitigating water shortage. Ethiopia has got nearly four million hectar of land that can be developed by irrigation, of which only 200,000 hectar is used for agriculture. Construction is underway on Koga River Basin Irrigation Development Project that covers 6000 hectar of land to enhance reliable agricultural development. Study on the Gode irrigation project (27600 hector) is completed and preparation is underway to develop land equivalent to 10600 hectares. In addition to these large scale irrigation schemes, farmer-centered small scale irrigation projects are used to irrigate 14708 hectares in all regions. Presently, Ethiopia is working with the Nile Basin Initiative countries to promote the establishment of an integrated framework for joint utilization and equitable cooperation and agreements on trans-boundary waters such as Nile. So far, a forum for discussions and consultations amongst the various stakeholders and international financial institutions has been established. In order to alleviate poverty, proper utilization of water resources is imperative. Obviously, this calls for the concerted efforts of the Federal government and regional states and other stakeholders. The Ministry of Water Resources in its bid to achieve the 2002-2016 Water Sector Development Program /WSDP/ has earmarked 7.4 billion dollars. A basic future of the WSDP is the inclusion of priority projects from River Basin Master Plan studies. The ministry has undertaken the preparation of River Basins Master Plans for most of the rivers. The current WSDP has also identified priority projects in the basin master plan. The Program is divided into five sub-sectors:
Among others, under the irrigation plan a total of 274,612 hectares of land will be developed, 402 urban towns will be supplied with pure water, six medium hydro plants with an aggregate capacity of 150 MW will be constructed. |