Development of Groundwater Resources in Ethiopia

Abstract

Ethiopia is located in“Horn f Africa”, the south-eastern corner of African continent. It is known as only one noncolonized country with“Axum” civilization in ancient age Africa. This country fell behind the time untill recent time economically and industrially. The development of groundwater is the most fundamental matter to this country.
On the request from the Ethiopian government, the technical cooperation for development of groundwater resources was carried out by the Overseas Technical Cooperatien Agency (now Japan International Cooperation Agency).
The authors stayed for two or four years and carried out researches on groundwater development. They classified the five groundwater types, based upon the geological condition.
1. Precambrian crystalline rocks type
2. Mesozoic marine sedimental rocks type
3. Tertiary Trap volcanic rocks type
4. Quaternary Aden volcanic rocks type
5. Quaternary fluvial or lacustrine sediment type
Main aquifer are Trap volcanic rocks which are distributed in the north-western and south-easern highlands, and Aden volcanic rocks and Quaternary sediment which occupy bottom of the Rift valley. These are influenced by the hot springs in some places.
Precambrian crystalline and Mesozoic marine sedimental rocks are recongnized as aquifuge. The former is distributed in the northern part of this country and the latter in the south-easern part. Only wethered portion of the rocks and related fluvial sediments along the river courses can be expected to be aquifer. 毒 地質調査 所, Geological Survey of Japan 紳 国土調査株式会社 Kokudo Survey Co. Ltd