Addis Ababa University Celebrates the International Water Day
Addis Ababa University (AAU) Africa Center of Excellence for Water Management (ACEWM) celebrated the annual World Water Day on the theme “Groundwater: Making the Invisible Visible” at College of Natural and Computational Sciences (CNCS) on the 22nd of March, 2022.
World Water Day has been celebrated internationally each year on the 22nd of March since 1993 with selected themes focused on the importance of fresh water.
Addisalem Abathun (PhD), the Dean for CNCS on her opening remarks said, “Groundwater is a vital resource that provides almost half of drinking water worldwide, about 40% of water for irrigation and nearly 33% of the water required for industry. It also sustains ecosystems and maintains the base flow of river water.”
She further noted that groundwater is an important part of climate change adaptation process and is often a solution for people without access to safe water. Despite these impressive facts and figures, invisible groundwater is out of sight and out of mind for most people, she added.
Dr. Addisalem indicated that universities and research institutions have pivotal roles to play in building capacity and conducting research regarding groundwater exploration, development, use and management.
“Our college offers Bachelor of Science Degree in Geology and MSc. and PhD Degrees in Water Management, Hydrogeology and related fields; our academic staff is providing technical and scientific support to both the government and the private sectors in groundwater study and development,” she elaborated.
According to Dr. Addisalem’s advice, as the recharge of our groundwater is strongly impacted by the global climate change and will become more and more critical in the future, we need to work together to sustainably mange this precious resource.
Feleke Zewge (PhD), Director of ACEWM, on his part said, Africa’s groundwater utilization and that of Ethiopia’s in particular has to be projected to increase in order to cover the rapidly growing population and abstraction for different activities in the next few decades.
“Ethiopia is heavily dependent on groundwater for drinking, livestock production and industries; over 70 % of Ethiopia’s water supply comes from groundwater, and only about 50 % of the population has access to an improved water supply,” he added
According to some researches, said Dr. Feleke, groundwater could support critical sectors in developing countries like Ethiopia to increase the irrigated land area, to increase per capita water consumption, and safeguard cities against shocks due to the shortage of water supply during dry seasons and increased demands.
Scholars and researchers delivered presentations on different topics focused on the Ethiopian groundwater resources and development challenges at the celebrating event of the World Water Day.
Source: Addis Ababa University