Assessments of water demands for the Juba and Shabelle Rivers in Somalia

Yibeltal Mesenbet, Sebhat
Journal of Agriculture and Environment for International Development-JAEID   unpublished
Fresh water is one of the most challenging current and future natural resources issues in the most regions of Somalia. In addition, the twenty and more years of civil war in Somalia have destroyed most of the irrigation schemes, as well as institutional structures. But, the Somali national economy, social, environmental well-being and the food security mainly depend on Juba and Shabelle Rivers. These rivers are the only perennial and transboundary rivers in Somalia but two-thirds of the river
more » ... sins are located outside Somalia, mostly in Ethiopia, with a part of the Juba basin in Kenya. The main objectives of this study are estimating the current utilization of rivers in the region and scenario development for different water user from these rivers. The study deals with a characterization of the water users and demands along the Juba and Shabelle Rivers were modelled using a WEAP model. During model application for the basins, there are a lot of data sources limitations and gaps. Results show that the long-term mean annual flow volume at entering points from Ethiopia to Somalia (Luuq and Belet Weyne runoff stations) were 5,638 and 3,499 mcm/yr in the Juba and Shabelle Rivers, respectively. The current annual water use rate for irrigation estimates in Juba and Shabelle River basins are 11,428 m 3 /ha and 11,829 m 3 /ha, respectively. The irrigation annual water demand was along Juba 173.1 mcm and Shabelle 597.4 mcm and the domestic demand depends on the Juba and Shabelle Rivers were 14.5 and 5.5 mcm, respectively. If maintaining the existing irrigation infrastructure along the rivers, irrigation water demands for the year 2035 are 3% and 63% of the current annual flow volume at the Juba and Shabelle Rivers, respectively.
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