The National Isotope hydrology laboratory and its impact on water research in Ethiopia. Merhawi G. GebreMichael, Dagmawi Shiferaw and Adane Abebe

Transcription

1 The National Isotope hydrology laboratory and its impact on water research in Ethiopia. Merhawi G. GebreMichael, Dagmawi Shiferaw and Adane Abebe

2 Outline of the presentation General information How our isotope hydrology laboratory is working What are the opportunities and challenges Inter-laboratory comparison Isotope hydrology human capacity in Ethiopia Impact of LWIA data in Water resource studies of Ethiopia

3 Overview of National Isotope lab The isotope hydrology laboratory of Addis Ababa University (AAU) is established with the collaboration of IAEA. The laboratory is jointly run and owned by Ethiopian Ministry of Water and Energy, Geological Survey of Ethiopia and School of Earth Sciences-AAU. The lab analyzes isotopes of Oxygen, Hydrogen and Radon.

4 Liquid water isotope analyzer The instrument measure the isotopes of hydrogen and oxygen with absolute abundance by laser absorption. Test results shows adequate precision and accuracy. Low initial cost to operate. Substantially easier to operate.

5 δ 18 O and δ 2 H analytical protocol We use the IAEA standard sample configuration way. Two deionized water, three local standards and thirty water samples run at a time.

6 δ 18 O and δ 2 H analytical protocol Preparing internal standards: We prepared our own internal standard calibrated by V-SMOW. We used three different water samples. 1. Ordinary water- tap water 2. Isotopically enriched lake water 3. Mixing two different bottle water

7 The internal standard isotopic preparation Standards δ 18 O permil. δ 2 H permil. ET-Std ET-Std ET-Std

8 Adjusting LWIA absorption spectrum Running the water samples and data post processing Changing septum, vial and syringe Checking spectrum Converting isotope ratio to delta notation.

9 δ 18 O and δ 2 H analytical protocol IAEA calculation template :

10 Inter-laboratory comparison Enable us to actively monitory our laboratory standards regularly; This is a good initiative by, the IAEA to follow up member state how they are working; As a result of this program, most of our standards analyzed by both in home and Vienna, have good results.

11 Inter-lab comparison result

12 Result Results Inter-comparison Sample Lab δ 18 O δ 2 H unc. n unc. n ILS-03 NIHL IAEA ILS-07 NIHL IAEA ILS-12 NIHL IAEA ILS-18 NIHL IAEA CRP-01 NIHL IAEA CRP-02 NIHL IAEA

13 What are the opportunities and challenges Challenges Lack of accessories Syringe, septum, compressed air, Procurement problem Electric outage Regulating room temperature Opportunities Better understanding of the water resource of Ethiopia High tech science is being used massively by graduate and undergraduate level Open a new window for research and collaboration. Mainstream groundwater assessment is currently using isotope data as one and preferred tool

14 Isotope Hydrology Human Capacity in Ethiopia At least 7: Number of Institutions who could or are using Isotope Hydrology in their projects At least 40: Number of Individuals who have used or could use Isotope hydrology in hydrological projects At least 5: Number of Specialists in Isotope Hydrology At least thousands: Of isotope data generated from national isotope hydrology lab

15 Impact of LWIA data in Water resource studies of Ethiopia Better understanding and characterization of the water resource Number of publication using our laboratory data is increasing Number of analysis increasing with years

16 Outline of the presentation Other than liquid water isotope analyzer Liquid scintillation methods Rad-7

17 Isotope data generated from lab Blue Nile Basin Raya valley Tana lake, Ethiopian Rift lakes Western Ethiopia Mekele outlier Awasa basin

18 Reviewed article and publications

19 A case study: Isotopic composition of the water bodies in Raya valley. Korem Flood water Legend -20 BH & HDW Vapor samples Weighted mean summer rainfall at AA. Gerjale swamp water δ 2 H = 7.14 δ 18 O Weighted mean spring rainfall at AA. 2 H = O+ 8.5 Spring River Lake Ashenge Vapour

20 Acknowledgment IAEA, Isotope Hydrology Section Addis Ababa University Ministry of Water and Energy Geological Survey of Ethiopia Dr. Seifu Kebede Prof. Tenalem Ayenew Dr. Dagnachew Legesse Girum Admasu Ermias Hagos

21 Thank you!