RWSN Webinars

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1 RWSN Webinars Rainwater Harvesting Groundwater Research Water Point Mapping Every Tuesday from 23 rd Sept to 9 th Dec 2014 Register on: RWSN uses Cisco Webex webinar software please contact us at ruralwater@skat.ch address above if you need help on getting connected 15:30 17:00 (Central European Summer Time) 09:30 11:00 (Eastern Daylight Time, US) 19:00 20:30 (India Standard Time)

2 Webinar 5 Groundwater Research 21 st October 2014 Groundwater Recharge African groundwater recharge: will the pumps run dry? - Alan MacDonald, British Geological Survey, UK Rural Roads for Groundwater Recharge - Kifle Woldearegay, Mekelle University, Ethiopia & Frank Steenbergen MetaMeta, Netherlands Discussant Richard Taylor, University College London, UK

3 RURAL ROADS FOR RECHARGE IN ETHIOPIA UPGRO Webinar Kifle Woldearegay (Mekelle University, Ethiopia) Frank Van Steenbergen (MetaMeta, The Netherlands)

4 Dream To have roads systematically used for groundwater recharge and retention and storage all over Sub Saharan Africa

5 Outline of the Presentation 1. Introduction 2. Hydrological effects of road development 3. Role of partners 1. Techniques of Water Harvesting from roads in Tigray 2. Effects 3. Opportunities for up-scaling 5

6 1. Introduction Reconnaissance km: 260 problem spots Socio-economic survey Lost livelihood opportunities Litigation Distributional effects Governance No community engagement No connection between Road Authorities and others Limited road design guidelines Some budget procedures not conducive

7 2. Hydrological effects of road development 7 Increase in erosion of local streams causing gullying (150) Sedimentation/siltation (15) Alter sub-surface shallow groundwater flows. Water logging in the upstream areas Local flooding damage to houses, to planted crops and to wells (95) To convert the negative effects of water from roads, different efforts have been done in Tigray in the year 2013/2014 alone.

8 8 Farmers pointing out flood level due to road development.

9 3. Roles of different partners in implementation Catalyst Research Grant 9 holders (Mekelle University, MetaMeta, IDS Sussex): Research, technical input and performance evaluation. TBoARD: overall leader of the implementation. Woreda Offices: coordinating the implementation activities. Communities: Implementing the interventions. Road contractors and consultants: support the overall activity and in some cases machinery.

10 4. Techniques: water harvesting from roads 10 This was part of the moisture conservation program of the Tigray region. Over 30 woredas of the region have implemented different innovative techniques suitable to their local conditions. Most of the techniques were implemented by local communities with support from the local and regional experts.

11 11 (a) Construction of Deep trenches at downstream side of roads to recharge the groundwater and improve moisture conditions of soils. (b) Road side ponds to recharge groundwater and enhance in-situ moisture in soils.

12 (c) Road side runoff diverted into ponds for surface water storage and groundwater recharge. 12 (d) Water from a culvert is channeled into farmlands (used for groundwater recharge and improving soil moisture).

13 13 (e) Road side runoff is channeled into farmlands (used to improve soil moisture and reduce runoff to downstream areas). (f)

14 14 (f) Runoff from a town (Freweign) is managed through a number of options: Construction of deep trenches to reduce runoff and enhance groundwater recharge. Diverting water from culverts into a borrow pit for surface water storage and groundwater recharge. Borrow pit Culverts Deep trenches Communities which used to have been affected by flooding are saved from flooding.

15 15 (g) Water from culvert is channeled into checkdams (for surface water storage and groundwater recharge. Check-dam Road Hand-dug well (h) Water from a culvert is spread into series of deep trenches to enhance groundwater recharge. Culvert Deep trenches

16 (i) Water from a bridge is spread into series of deep trenches and percolation ponds to recharge groundwater. 16 Hand-dug well which used to be dry became productive after the intervention. Bridge Hand-dug well Deep trenches Percolation pond (j) Road side drainage connected to percolation pond for groundwater recharge. Road side drainage

17 17 5. Effects of water harvesting from roads The implementation of water harvesting from roads in Tigray has gone beyond piloting programs. The technologies applied are variable, depending on site condition. The technologies are implemented in 30 woredas of the region. Monitoring has only focused to specific sites where there was previous baseline data.

18 No Implemented Technology Effects 1 Deep trenches at downstream side of roads (culverts, bridges, etc) 18 Examples of the Monitoring Results Shallow groundwater level has improved: from dry to productive, and from 10m to 3m below ground surface. The moisture content of the soil has improved up to 50% more than the previous year of the same period. 2 Road side ponds Moisture of soils along road has improved by upto 100% as compared to the moisture condition of previous year of the same season. Shallow groundwater level has improved by upto 1m. 3 Road side runoff diverted into ponds 4 Water from a culvert is channeled into farmlands 5 Road side runoff is channeled into farmlands New surface water for supplementary irrigation and animal watering created. Groundwater level has increased from below 8m to 2m below surface. Moisture content of the soil has improved by up to 50%, and groundwater level has improved from below 10m to 3m below surface. As a result, new groundwater wells are being developed. Road side erosion has been halted and moisture condition of the soil has improved by upto 30%.

19 6. Potential for up/out-scaling 19 The potential for up-scaling of water harvesting from roads to the whole region, Ethiopia and even beyond is very high for a high number of reasons: The negative effects of roads could be changed into positive; There is water scarcity in the arid to semi-arid regions of Ethiopia; 70,000 km of roads is added in SubSaharan Africa the potential is huge: 90,000 new opportunities a year Water demand is increasing because of the on-going irrigation developments; and The magic of bringing different institutions and communities together cooperation is created

20 Acknowledgement Project title: Optimizing road development for groundwater recharge and retention. Partners: MetaMeta (The Netherlands), IDS (UK), and MU (Ethiopia). Collaborating institutions in Ethiopia: TBoWR, TBoTRC, TBoARD, REST, OBoWME, OBoRT, ERA. Funding organization: NERC ESRC, DFID (UK); Part of the UPGro Catalyst grant. The funding organization is highly acknowledged for the financial support. 20

21 21 Thank You

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