Understanding the Impact of Human Interventions on the Hydrology of Nile Basin Headwaters, the Case of Upper Tekeze Catchments IHE Delft PhD Thesis Series

The availability and distribution of water resources in catchments are influenced by various natural and anthropogenic factors. Human-induced environmental changes are key factors controlling the hydrological flows of semi-arid catchments. Land degradation, water scarcity and inefficient utilization of available water resources continue to be important constraints for socio-economic development in the headwater catchments of the Nile river basin in particular over the Ethiopian Catchments. This research investigates the impact of landscape anthropogenic changes on the hydrological processes in the Upper Tekeze basin (A tributary of the Nile). The hydrology of the basin is investigated through analysis of hydro-climatic data, remote sensing techniques, new field measurements and parsimonious hydrological models.

The empirical evidence provided in this book confirms that human-induced environmental changes can significantly change the hydrology of catchments, both in negative (degradation) and in positive (restoration) ways. This book also shows that rainfall-runoff relationships in semi-arid catchments are non-uniform and hence the application of hydrological models in such catchments need special attention. Moreover, parsimonious dynamic hydrological model improves our understanding of the hydrological response to dynamic environmental changes.

Summary, Introduction, Study area description, Evaluation of satellite products in the Upper Tekeze basin, Temporal and spatial changes of rainfall and streamflow, Quantifying longitudinal land use/cover change in Geba catchment, Modelling hydrological response to land management dynamics, Modelling the impact of catchment management interventions on the low flows, Conclusion and recommendations, References.

Tesfay Gebretsadkan Gebremicael was born in Adwa, Ethiopia. He received his BSc degree in Agricultural Engineering from Hawasa University, Ethiopia, in 2006. Thereafter, he joined the Tigray Agricultural Research Institute (TARI), where he worked as an associate researcher in water resources and irrigation engineering. From October 2009 to June 2011, he followed the MSc programme in Water Resources Management, at UNESCO-IHE Institute for Water Education in Delft, The Netherlands. After obtaining his MSc degree, he returned to Ethiopia and continued to work with TARI as researcher in water resources and hydrology. In 2015, he started his PhD studies at UNESCO-IHE. During his PhD research, he studied the hydrology of the Upper Tekeze basin at various spatio-scales using a combination of different methods. His research interests include catchment hydrology, hydrological and river systems modelling, water resources management, spatial and remote sensing analysis and irrigation water management. He has presented his work at various national, regional and international conferences and has published several articles in international journals.