Background The impact of watershed land-use on surface water quality is one of the under researched areas in mega cities of the developing countries like Addis Ababa. The study examined the impact of watershed land uses on the Kebena river water quality within its seasonal and spatial variation and assessed the relationship between river water pollution and dominant land-use types in the sub-watersheds. Method The main land use types in the sub-watersheds were digitized from aerial photograph of 2016, and quantified for water quality impact analysis. Water samples were collected from the main Kebena river and the three sub-watersheds source and outlet points. A total of 128 samples were collected during the dry and wet seasons of 2016 and 2017 and analyzed for various water quality parameters. The study employed ANOVA, independent t-tests and multiple regression analysis to examine variations in water quality and assess the influence of the different land uses on water quality. Results Forest, built-up area and cultivated lands are the three major land use types in the Kebena watershed accounting for 39.14, 32.51 and 27.25% of the total area, respectively. Kebena catchment is drained by three sub-watersheds namely, Denkaka (44.9% cultivated land), Little-Kebena (60.87% forested) and Ginfle (90.44% urban land). The concentration of pollutants in the Kebena river was significantly higher (P < 0.001) in the dry season than in the wet season. However, when compared to surface water quality standards, both the dry and wet season water quality records are exceptionally high. The urban and forest dominated sub-watersheds contribute significantly high amount of (P < 0.001) pollutant loads to the river which is associated with high runoff from impervious surfaces and sewerage discharge to the river from nearby urban settlements. Conclusion Integrating watershed planning with land use planning is of paramount importance to address water quality problems in urban areas. Thus, in the urban dominated sub-catchment, land-use planning should aim to relocating river front communities, providing sufficient river buffer-zones and forwarding appropriate storm water management schemes. In the forested sub-catchment, planning should protect, retain and enhance the existing natural green spaces through open space planning, and management schemes while providing wide river-buffer with natural vegetation cover to minimize pollution load to urban rivers from agriculture dominated sub-watershed.

In the urban environment, rivers are most affected by development mismanagement to the extent that some of the essential services such as habitat for biodiversity conservation, recreation and domestic uses to communities are critically impaired. Consequently, river restoration is presented as practical solution to address urban river degradation issues and to revitalize urban rivers and river buffers. Goal setting along with clear and measurable goals in urban river restoration processes is one of the critical tools to guide restoration activities. This study aims to assess the qualitative effects of clearly defined river restoration goals and analyze their tangible effects on river restoration efforts in Kebena river watershed, Addis Ababa. Qualitative data from expert interviews, stakeholders' consultation, document review and institutional analysis are used to inform this research. The results show that the Environmental Protection Authority and Structural plan of the city have vaguely defined river restoration goal in the planning and implementation phases of river restoration projects. On the other hand, the goals of different institutions varied in context, while others were redundant and lacked synergy. As a result, urban rivers and river buffers accommodate various land uses that are negatively affecting the potential of rivers and river buffers in benefiting communities. Finally, the study forwarded critical methodological steps to guide the formulation of a well-defined goal and setting priorities for concrete actions to restore the river.

Introduction Public space development is important for the socio-economic and ecological conditions of cities. This study evaluated the publicness of riversides as public space development on the Kebena River in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The study identified the potentials and challenges of open spaces for public space development along the riversides of the Kebena River to increase the publicness of the riversides. Methods A comparative analysis of the publicness level of three selected open spaces along the riversides of Kebena River, namely, Wisdom Park, Minister Meda, and Agoza Meda, were done using the star model. Quantitative data were collected using site observations, document reviews, and questionnaire surveys with 169 interviewees. The land use and land cover (LULC) change detections were done for the years 2002 and 2020. Data were analyzed using SPSS, ArcGIS (Geographic Information Systems) software, and the Star model of the publicness analysis tool. Both qualitative and quantitative data were used to examine the riversides of the Kebena River. Result The results from the star model revealed that the riversides of the Kebena River could not be considered public spaces in their present conditions. This could be attributable to the abuse by the illegal settlers and urban agriculture activities. Conclusion The study depicted that the publicness of the Kebena riverside areas is very low and has a very poor public life. Publicness-oriented public spaces should be established and developed to improve and enhance the publicness level of the riversides of the Kebena River. The study contributes to scientific communities and policymakers to enhance the development of open green spaces, which may contribute towards climate change mitigation and adaptation strategies.

The global expansion of urbanization is posing associated environmental and socioeconomic challenges. The capital city of Ethiopia, Addis Ababa, is also facing similar threats. The development of urban green infrastructures (UGIs) are the forefront mechanisms in mitigating these global challenges. Nevertheless, UGIs in Addis Ababa are degrading and inaccessible to the city residents. Hence, a 56 km long Addis River Side Green Development Project is under development with a total investment of USD 1.253 billion funded by Chinese government aid. In phase one of this grand project, Friendship Square Park (FSP), was established in 2019 with a total cost of about USD 50 million. This paper was initiated to describe the establishment process of FSP and assess its social, economic, and environmental contributions to the city. The establishment process was described in close collaboration with the FSP contractor, China Communications Construction Company, Ltd. (CCCC). The land use changes of FSP’s development were determined by satellite images, while its environmental benefits were assessed through plant selection, planting design, and seedling survival rate. Open and/or close ended questionnaires were designed to assess the socioeconomic values of the park. The green space of the area has highly changed from 2002 (8.6%) to 2019 (56.1%) when the park was completed. More than 74,288 seedlings in 133 species of seedlings were planted in the park. The average survival rate of these seedlings was 93%. On average about 500 people visit the park per day, and 400,000 USD is generated, just from the entrance fee, per annum. Overall, 100% of the visitors were strongly satisfied with the current status of the park and recommended some additional features to be included in it. In general, the park is contributing to the environmental and socioeconomic values of the city residents, and this kind of park should be developed in other sub-cities of the city as well as regional cities of Ethiopia to increase the aesthetic, environmental and socioeconomic values of the country, at large.

Background: The impact of watershed land-use on surface water quality, especially in urbanized areas, has been investigated in numerous studies in developed countries, however, the issue is one of the under researched areas in developing cities of Africa. To study the impact of watershed land-use on surface water quality, we used the main land use types of the Kebena watershed from aerial photograph and collected river water samples during the dry and wet seasons for two consecutive years at different points from the river course. We calculated the share of each land use using ArcGIS and tested the water quality during each season. The variations in water quality parameters relating to the different land use types of the sub-watersheds were analyzed using ANOVA. Results: Kebena watershed is mainly covered by 39.14% forest, 32.51% built-up area and 27.25% cultivated land. At sub-catchment level, Denkaka, (agriculture dominated) sub-catchment with 44.90 % cultivated land, Little Kebena, (forest dominated) sub-catchment, with 60.87% forest cover and Ginfle (urban dominated) sub-catchment with 90.44% built-up area were identified. The variations in water quality parameters relating to the different land use types of Kebena watershed revealed the significantly high seasonal relationship between the concentration of the water quality indicators during the dry season at (P<0.001, P<0.05). Furthermore, there is a strong positive relationship between the urban and forest dominated sub-catchments and water quality indicators during both the wet and dry seasons than agriculture dominated sub-catchment.Conclusion: Integrating watershed planning with land use planning, therefore, becomes one of the vital tools to address water quality problems in a holistic manner to further prioritize restoration and protection strategies for specific sub-catchments. Thus, in the urban dominated sub-catchment, relocating riverfront communities, providing a well-designed sewage system, applying appropriate storm water management schemes, are some of the important measures while providing wide river buffers with various vegetation cover are necessary to minimize pollutants influx to the river from the agriculture dominated sub-catchment. Furthermore, in the forested sub-catchment, applying preventive measures to retain and enhance connectivity of the existing natural green spaces through open space planning, development and management schemes is crucial.