Advances in water resources research in the Upper Blue Nile basin and the way forward: A review

Dile, Yihun T.; Tekleab, Sirak; Ayana, Essayas K.; Gebrehiwot, Solomon Gebreyohannis; Worqlul, Abeyou W.; Bayabil, Haimanote K.; Yimam, Yohannes Tadesse; Tilahun, Seifu A.; Daggupati, Prasad; Karlberg, Louise; Srinivasan, Raghavan

doi:10.1016/j.jhydrol.2018.03.042

Cited by 75 publications

(27 citation statements)

References 127 publications

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“…Lake Tana is the largest freshwater lake in Ethiopia, and it is the source of the Upper Blue Nile River. The Upper Blue Nile River contributes more than 50% of annual streamflow to the Nile River [24,25]. Lake Tana has a catchment area of 15,000 km 2 , out of which the lake covers 20%.…”

Section: Study Areamentioning

confidence: 99%

Spatiotemporal Dynamics and Environmental Controlling Factors of the Lake Tana Water Hyacinth in Ethiopia

et al. 2020

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The largest freshwater lake in Ethiopia, Lake Tana, has faced ecological disaster due to water hyacinth (Eichhornia crassipes) infestation. The water hyacinth is a threat not only to the ecology but also to the socioeconomic development of the region and cultural value of the lake, which is registered as a UNESCO reserve. This study aims to map the spatiotemporal dynamics of the water hyacinth using high-resolution PlanetScope satellite images and assesses the major environmental variables that relate to the weed spatial coverage dynamics for the period August 2017 to July 2018. The plausible environmental factors studied affecting the weed dynamics include lake level, water and air temperature, and turbidity. Water temperature and turbidity were estimated from the moderate resolution imaging spectroradiometer (MODIS) satellite image and the water level was estimated using Jason-1 altimetry data while the air temperature was obtained from the nearby meteorological station at Bahir Dar station. The results indicated that water hyacinth coverage was increasing at a rate of 14 ha/day from August to November of 2017. On the other hand, the coverage reduced at a rate of 6 ha/day from December 2017 to June 2018. However, the length of shoreline infestation increased significantly from 4.3 km in August 2017 to 23.4 km in April 2018. Lake level and night-time water temperatures were strongly correlated with water hyacinth spatial coverage (p < 0.05). A drop in the lake water level resulted in a considerable reduction of the infested area, which is also related to decreasing nutrient levels in the water. The water hyacinth expansion dynamics could be altered by treating the nutrient-rich runoff with best management practices along the wetland and in the lake watershed landscape.

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Section: Study Areamentioning

confidence: 99%

Spatiotemporal Dynamics and Environmental Controlling Factors of the Lake Tana Water Hyacinth in Ethiopia

et al. 2020

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“…The desired positive outcome from mechanical SWC is much less evident in non-drought prone regions in Ethiopia (Mekuriaw et al, 2018). Limited experimental research stations such as Anjeni, Andit Tid, Awramba, Maybar, and Debre Mawi catchments prevent our understanding of appropriate SWC measures in the basin (Dile et al, 2018). Thus, expanding efforts in evaluating the performance of SWC practices in projects such as TBIWRDP therefore has important implications for monitoring and upscaling SWC practices regionally.…”

Section: Stream Discharge Monitoringmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Market‐based approaches apply a price to SWC practices, using techniques such as 'environmental accounting' (Veiga, Calvache, & Benitez, 2015; Weber, 2018) or 'beneficiary pays' schemes (Boisvert, Méral, & Froger, 2013) that depend fundamentally on evaluating the effectiveness and monetary value of SWC implementation. Although market‐based approaches may be essential to upscaling SWC, missing, incomplete or low quality monitoring of SWC performance remains a pervasive barrier to their adoption (Dile et al, 2018; Kassie, Köhlin, Bluffstone, & Holden, 2011; MEA, 2005; Mekuriaw, Heinimann, Zeleke, & Hurni, 2018; Zimale et al, 2017) and upscaling (Naeem et al, 2015). One approach to lowering this barrier is to make better use of existing datasets, including simple or incomplete datasets, to evaluate SWC interventions.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Detecting the short term impact of soil and water conservation practices using stage as a proxy for discharge—A case‐study from the Tana sub‐basin, Ethiopia

Weldegebriel

Kruskopf²,

Thompson

et al. 2020

Land Degrad Dev

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Efforts to tackle land degradation worldwide have spurred the adoption of soil and water conservation (SWC) practices intended to reduce surface runoff and erosion. Despite their widespread implementation, missing or incomplete monitoring remains a pervasive problem preventing evaluation of how well SWC practices meet these aims. When using runoff and sediment loss as main parameters to evaluate SWC efficacy, the key metrics are the production of flow per unit rainfall (runoff ratio), and exported sediment (sediment concentration). We develop a method to assess changes in these metrics in the absence of a flow rating curve, using more complete and reliable measurements of stage (flow depth). We apply these methods to datasets with incomplete rating curve collected from five watersheds included in the Tana and Beles Integrated Water Resource Development Project (TBIWRDP) in the Abay (Blue Nile) basin, Ethiopia. Changes in runoff ratio and sediment concentration relative to the first year of treatment varied by season. In the long wet season (Kiremt) that generates most runoff and erosion, reductions in runoff ratio and in sediment concentration occurred in four watersheds. Reductions in the runoff ratio were directly proportional to the areal density of SWC treatments in the watersheds, suggesting that SWC treatments were effective in controlling runoff and erosion.We suggest that stage and sediment concentration information can be used to assess watershed responses to SWC treatments. Focusing on these measurements, may facilitate the design of reliable and affordable monitoring programs, and ultimately facilitate improved financing approaches based on reasonable estimates of likely SWC practice performance.

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“…This is primarily due to the increased population and the need for more farmlands and/or animal grazing [6]. Agricultural practices in most parts of the country are rainfed, and water scarcity is rampant during most of the months while runoff and erosion are common during the short rainy monsoon period [7]. Since hydrological, climate, and soil data are scarcely available in the region, land and water management efforts rely on model simulations to understand hydrological processes by fitting discharge and sediment yield at watershed outlets [8][9][10][11].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Improving Hydrologic Simulations of a Small Watershed through Soil Data Integration

Bayabil

Dile

2020

Water

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The effects of soil data sources on the performance of hydrologic model simulations remain poorly understood compared to the effects of other data inputs. This paper investigated the effects of different soil datasets in simulating streamflow and sediment yield using the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT). Furthermore, potential improvements in watershed simulations were evaluated by integrating field measured soil parameters (user soil) with global soil datasets. Five soil datasets, namely user soil, AfSIS (Africa Soil Information Service), Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), and two integrated soils (User-AfSIS and User-FAO) produced by assimilating the user soil with the latter two, were evaluated. The benefits of the user soil in improving streamflow simulations to better replicate observed flow were greater at daily time steps than monthly. Compared to the individual AfSIS and FAO soils, their integration with the user soil improved the daily Nash-Sutcliffe Efficiency (NSE) by 0.19 and 0.17 during model calibration, respectively. Overall, all soils performed relatively similar with monthly sediment yield simulations, which were improved when it was integrated with the user soil. Based on selected rainfall events, the watershed response time was less than 1 h, which suggests that the watershed has a quick runoff response time. This paper showed that streamflow and sediment yield simulation performances of freely available global soil datasets can be improved through integration with locally measured soil information. This study demonstrated that the availability of local soil information is critical for daily hydrologic model simulations, which is critical for planning effective soil and water management practices at plot and field scales.

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Advances in water resources research in the Upper Blue Nile basin and the way forward: A review

Cited by 75 publications

References 127 publications

Spatiotemporal Dynamics and Environmental Controlling Factors of the Lake Tana Water Hyacinth in Ethiopia

Spatiotemporal Dynamics and Environmental Controlling Factors of the Lake Tana Water Hyacinth in Ethiopia

Detecting the short term impact of soil and water conservation practices using stage as a proxy for discharge—A case‐study from the Tana sub‐basin, Ethiopia

Improving Hydrologic Simulations of a Small Watershed through Soil Data Integration

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