Review: Groundwater resource potential and status of groundwater resource development in Ethiopia

• Published in: Hydrogeology journal Vol. 27; no. 3; pp. 1051 - 1065
• Main Authors: Mengistu, Haile A., Demlie, Molla B., Abiye, Tamiru A.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Berlin/Heidelberg Springer Berlin Heidelberg 01-05-2019; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Agricultural economics; Agricultural management; Agriculture; Aquatic Pollution; Capacity development; Construction; Construction costs; Developing countries; Dispersion; Earth and Environmental Science; Earth Sciences; Exploitation; Geology; Geophysics/Geodesy; Groundwater; Groundwater resources; Hydrogeology; Hydrology/Water Resources; Industrial development; Irrigation; LDCs; Measuring instruments; Policies; Project engineering; Resource development; Rural areas; Rural communities; Surface water; Test wells; Urban agriculture; Urban populations; Waste Water Technology; Water Management; Water Pollution Control; Water quality; Water Quality/Water Pollution; Water resources; Water shortages; Water supply; Ethiopia; Groundwater management; Groundwater resource potential; Irrigation; Ethiopia; Sub-Saharan Africa
• ISSN: 1431-2174; 1435-0157
• DOI: 10.1007/s10040-019-01928-x

The groundwater resources potential of Ethiopia is estimated to be about 40 billion cubic meters. Groundwater has been used as the main source of water supply since the 1970s for the main cities, towns and dispersed rural communities across the country, where provision of reticulated surface-water schemes is often expensive because of initial project construction costs and poor water quality. The exponential growth of the urban population and agriculture-led industrial development have resulted in greater attention to groundwater as the potentially cost-effective water supply source. As part of the growing focus on the use of groundwater, the Ethiopian government is currently implementing irrigation projects. One plan involves nine irrigation projects covering an estimated area of 8,000 ha, being developed on a pilot scale, with 9,000 test wells, 28,000 monitoring wells and 14,657 spring improvements. If this unprecedented Ethiopian groundwater-centred development plan is implemented successfully at such a scale, it is highly likely that its success will persuade other Sub-Saharan developing nations to put in place the necessary policies, regulations and investment for infrastructure and capacity development for exploring, exploiting and managing their groundwater resources.