On the concluding day, succinct presentations of scientific studies could very well titillate the presenters and participants as it has generated the much-needed synergy that set the tone for the deliberations on the serious issue like water.

 

On the last day, symposium saw the oral and poster presentation of 14 interesting research papers including four from Arba Minch University that revolved around the three thematic areas i.e. Irrigation and Drainage, Water Supply and Sanitation and Emerging Challenges.

AMU researchers – AMiT Scientific Director, Dr Negash Wagesho, presenting his paper on ‘Hydrological responses and hence the water resources to climate change in Rift Valley lakes basin of Ethiopia,’ said, ‘‘The natural environment is under tremendous stress as consequence of various demands of increasing population. And the average atmospheric temperature has considerably risen to 0.6 +/- 0.2 degree centigrade from 1860 to 2000 and 0.74 +/- 0.18 degree centigrade from 1906 to 2000.

He further observed that non-stationarity is not linear over different hydro-climatic elements. This phenomenon could likely to be attributed to the combined effect of global climatic change and variability on local climate and altered catchment condition over the years.

AMU’s Mr Abraham Gunte in his paper ‘Bacteriological quality of drinking water at Arba Minch town, Southern Ethiopia,’ noted that poor sanitation, low level of hygiene, poor socio-economic background, education level, inadequate treatment and corroded pipes in distribution lines might be the cause for indicator bacterial contamination.

Training of locals to look after the water supply system, extension of hygiene and health education on sanitation could have a noticeable impact for the provision of safe water supply both at community as well as household level, he opined.

Ms Bethel Geremew presented paper on ‘Potential impact and response of vegetation dynamics to climate variability at different timescale,’ and Tizazu Gebre on ‘A review paper on small holder Traditional farmers’ and indigenous peoples’ strategies for climate change mitigation.’

Hawassa University’s Mihret Dananto in his presentation on ‘Irrigation water management in small-scale irrigation schemes’ delineated Ethiopia’s irrigation potential, saying the nation has sufficient water; the country has 3.7 million hectares of irrigable land, but only 10% of it is being irrigated. So, it’s the need of the hour to develop technical guidelines for Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) and a framework for sustainable development of Small-Scale Irrigation Schemes.’’

Poignant studies reflecting on the topics like, ‘Soil moisture assessment using hyper-spectral remote sensing’, ‘Evaluation of stage-wise deficit furrow irrigation application on maize production’, ‘Determination of irrigation requirement and irrigation scheduling on onion at Ribb and Kobo’, ‘Evaluation of rural water supply and sanitation system in Dendi Woreda Oromiya region’, ‘CPM experiences in community managed water supply system’ etc. were presented.

One of the AMU alumni has also put model of solar steam pump and solar concentrator on display at the venue. The presentations were interspersed with question-answer sessions.

Vice President for Research and Community Services, Dr Guchie Gulie, spoke on general discussion and future research directions. Vice President for Administration and Development, Dr Kassa Tadele has made the closing remarks.

The symposium was co-sponsored by Ministry of Water and Energy, Ministry of Science and Technology, Water Works Design & Supervision, Community Managed Project Approach and International Water Management Institute (IWMI).

 

By Philips Joseph