THE PROBLEM OF HIGH-RISE GROUNDWATER IN AMBARA IRRIGATION PROJECT

ABSTRACT

The Ambara irrigation project (AIP) is located in the Middle Awash Valley, in Afar Regional state, close to the main highway linking Addis Ababa with the port of Assab and to the railway line from Addis Ababa to Djibouti. The farm borders on the right back of the Awash River, which drains at a little less than 740 masl to the south, close to the confluence of the Kebena River and about 120 masl to the north around Miriam Sefer.

The soils of the area are fertile but the climate is semi-arid with bi-modal rainfall distribution amounting to some 500 – 600mm annually. Temperatures range from mean minimas of 14.4oc and 24.1oc in the respective month.

The development of the AIP was completed in 1983. The total area of land developed under the AIP was 7431 hectares of gravity-irrigated land which added to an almost similar area to 14,725 hectares under Middle Awash Agricultural Enterprise.

The project diverts water from the Awash River to provide irrigation to 10,300 hectare in the areas known locally as Melka Sade and Ambara. The method of field irrigation is furrow irrigation. The main crop produced is cotton with limited areas of banana, pasture, cereals and vegetables.

High soil salinity levels are associated with high groundwater levels and this is simply demonstrated by the abandoned saline area on the Melka Sade state farm. Soil salinity is a result of a rise in the groundwater level to the point at which the saline groundwater moves by capillary rise to be evaporated at the soil surface.

(Report 1996)

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