The available water volume of Lake Ziway in Ethiopia is declining at an alarming rate which hinders the lake services for a wide variety of sectors. However, there is a lack of systematic study to evaluate the contribution of water withdrawal by various sectors to the decline in the lake actual storage. In this study, we conducted a Water Abstraction Survey (WAS) to estimate actual water withdrawal from the lake. We applied a water balance model to evaluate the isolated impact of water withdrawal on the lake water volume and level. Three development pathways were simulated and the likely impact of these pathways on the lake water volume and level were assessed. Results indicate that water withdrawal for irrigation and domestic has significantly contributed to the change in the actual storage of Lake Ziway. Under full development pathways, irrigation water withdrawal from the lake is estimated to be 95.3 MCM. This will cause the mean annual water level of the lake to drop by 0.94 m, which yield with 38 km 2 reduction of the surface area of the lake. Overall, this will result in a reduction of mean annual lake volume by 405 MCM, which accounts for 26% of the average lake volume. Hence, our result indicates that the current impact of water abstraction on Lake Ziway storage is substantially large and will exacerbate in the future. This calls serious action on the management of water abstraction from the lake.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.
hi@scite.ai
10624 S. Eastern Ave., Ste. A-614
Henderson, NV 89052, USA
Copyright © 2024 scite LLC. All rights reserved.
Made with 💙 for researchers
Part of the Research Solutions Family.