Impact of irrigation on the water level of Lake Maybar, Northeast Ethiopia

ABSTRACT

The main objective of the research is to investigate the impact of irrigation water use on the water level of Lake Maybar. The collected data were tested for their consistency using outlier test and then analysed to estimate the components of catchment and lake water balances. Water Balance (WTRBLN) software was used to simulate the observed flow (catchment response) at the outlet of river Kori Sheleko. The model performance was tested using a Nash–Sutcliffe correlation, R², and showed better agreement (R² = 94.3%) between observed and predicted flows. The lake water balance at two scenarios of development of irrigation within Maybar Lake Basin was analysed. The result at scenario-1 (existing irrigation development) showed a water level reduction of about 0.76 m, and at scenario-2 (exploitation of all potential irrigation areas) it was 1.49 m. Through this impact study using a Water Balance Model, it was shown that the consumptive water use for irrigation development heavily affected the natural water level of Lake Maybar.

KEYWORDS:

• Irrigation potential
• water balance
• water management
• Ethiopia

Acknowledgements

We would like to convey our deep hearted appreciation to the Wollo University for financial support to undertake this research work. Our great thanks again go to Sirinka Agricultural Research Center for their appreciable support in providing us hydrologic and climatic data of the study area for free.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.