ERER IRRIGATION PROJECT

IRRIGATION AND DRAINAGE

1.0INTRODUCTION

1.0 Aim of Project

Ethiopia like any other underdeveloped country is confronted with food scarcity problem besides low level of
social and economic development. Rain fed agriculture is being practised with age old agricultural technology
which has resulted in low production and rampant poverty to the entire rural population drawing their livelihood
mainly from agriculture. Irrigated agriculture is recognised as one of the major means to solve the food deficit
problem and alleviate the poverty of rural people besides ensuring increased production of raw materials for agro-
industry, foreign earnings and employment opportunities.

Sensing the importance of irrigated agriculture in all round development of nation the Govt of Ethiopia
had initiated action to bring more and more area under irrigated agriculture. To identify potential sources
of water resources Preliminary Water Resources Master Plan for Ethiopia was got prepared by WAPCOS
in 1990 who also prepared Pre-feasibility master plan of the country. Later on in 1998, Wabe Shebelle
River Integrated Master Plan was drawn up and Erer irrigation project was identified as one of the
potential scheme for development of irrigated agriculture. Consequently Pre- Feasibility and Feasibility
studies were carried out by Water Works Design and Supervision Enterprise ( WWDSE ) in association
with WAPCOS and Synergics India Pvt,Ltd. respectively in 2002-05 and 2006-07.On feasibility studies
this project is found technically feasible, economically viable, environmentally sound and socially
equitable and therefore recommended for implementation. The detailed designs are being prepared to
enable the government to implement the project with promptitude.

1.2 Location of Project

The Erer Irrigation Project proposes to draw irrigation supplies from Erer River which is tributary of
Wabe Shebelle River.

Erer Irrigation Project is located in two Regional States i.e. Regional State of Harari and Regional State
of Oromia. In Oromia, project area is situated in Babile of the East Hararge Zone .In Harari it is situated
in Erer and Sofi Woredas. Further the command area is situated in 2 Kebeles ( Kile and Erer Dodota) of
the Harari Region and about 7 Kebeles ( Erer Ibada, Ifadin, Gamachu, Erer Guda, Tula, Berkele and Tofiq
) of Oromia region. Major part of command lies mainly Erer Ibada and Efadin Kebeles.

The command area starts from some distance downstream of dam and extends only on right bank of Erer
river. The command area is narrower and smaller near the dam site and becomes wide in the downstream
side. The irrigable area is mainly situated below the bridge on Harar Jijiga road and extends beyond
confluence of Erer River and Bidisimo stream covering only the right bank of the river. Although suitable
areas are available on left side of the river but on account of limitation of water availability for irrigation
the command is chosen on the right bank of Erer River.

The command area is located between UTM 1009300 N to 1028300 N ( 9 0 07’ 17’’ to 90 17’
40’’Latitude ) and UTM 193375 E to !99650 E (42012’24’’to 420 16’ 03’’Longitude).

The project area is located at about 530 km from Addis Ababa and 19 km from Harar town. The
command area is situated on both sides of Harar-Jijiga road which is 11 km from Babile town towards
Harar. The proposed dam site is situated about 6 km on left side of Harar-Jijiga road.

1.3 ACCESS TO THE PROJECT AREA

The project area (which is only 19 km away from Harar town) can be accessed by an asphalt road (511
km) from Addis Ababa to Harar town and further 19 km by all weather gravel road which connects Harar
with Jijiga town. Harar town can also be accessed partly by air up to Dire Dawa and remaining about54
km. by road from Dire Dawa to Harar.Babile is the nearest town which is 11 km from project area.

The proposed dam site is which is about 6 km from Harar- Jijiga road is connected to dam site by fair
weather road. The entire proposed command area from head to tail is connected by fair weather road.
Therefore the area can be easily accessed for carrying construction materials and machinery without
making special arrangement of approach roads
2. ABOUT PROJECT

2.1 SOURCE OF IRRIGATION WATER

The source of irrigation water for the proposed command area is river flows of Erer River
The Erer river is tributary of Wabe Shebelle River which is situated in the semi arid area of Wabe
Shebelle basin. Wabe Shebelle river basin is located between 0 0 N to 90 30’ latitude and 380 30’ E to 460
E longitude . It originates from the Bale mountains at an approximate elevation of 4000 m above mean sea
level and drains in to Indian Ocean after crossing Somalia. The total basin of Wabe Shabelle is
approximately 280,000 km2
Of which 72 % lies in Ethiopia. Large part of Somalia, part of Oromia, part of Southern Nations,
Nationalities and People (SNNP), part of Dire Dawa and whole Harari are located in Wabe Shebelle
Basin.

Erer River and its tributaries originate from the highlands close to kombolcha town where general
elevation is about 2500 m above mean sea level. The area of Erer catchment is about 419 km2 at the
proposed dam site. The water shed has dense network of tributaries. The major tributaries are samte, Gadi,
Ulan-ula, kombolcha, Bosensa, Hida and Daka.The topography of the catchment is dominantly
mountainous and hilly with relatively flat and rolling land along Erer River. Owing to intensive
deforestation, cultivation and overgrazing the land degradation is serious problem in the Erer River
catchment.
The catchment area of Erer River at bridge on Harar –Jijiga road is 469 km2 where discharge data are
recorded for shorter length of time. The discharge of river is mainly dependent on rainfall which is highly
variable in time and space. The water demand for irrigation does not match with the water availability in
the river. Therefore storage dam is proposed to store run off of river and utilise in the times of need of
irrigation.

2.2 CLIMATIC CONDITIONS

The Erer valley command area is situated in sub-tropical climate having mean annual temperature
220C,altitude between 1280 to 1365 meter above mean sea level, annual mean evaporation of 1658 mm and
mean annual rainfall 650mm ( effective rain fall 292 mm).
 Climatic Data Representing the Command Area

Data Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec

Rainfall 13.4 20.6 54.1 115.4 92.2 59.4 88.5 100.7 85.8 39.7 16.4 7.1

(mm)
75% Dep. 0 0 10.2 48.6 46.2 22.9 48.1 60.6 44.3 11.0 0 0
rainfall
(mm)
Max 22.2 23.0 24.2 24.0 23.1 22.4 22.8 23.3 23.7 22.5 22.2 21.8
temperature
(oC)
Min 17.5 19.2 20.0 18.9 19.5 19.1 19.2 19.4 18.6 19.4 16.0 17.2
temperature
(oC)
Wind speed 1.61 1.62 1.30 1.09 0.95 0.94 0.95 0.94 0.95 0.99 1.36 1.55

(m/sec)
Sunshine hours 8.8 8.3 7.9 7.5 8.5 8.1 7.5 7.8 7.6 8.4 9.3 9.2
(hrs)
Relative 52.6 52.7 54.0 56.1 50.9 45.7 51.3 54.4 54.1 45.6 46.1 51.2
Humidity (%)
 A summery of important climatic parameters relevant to planning of irrigated
agriculture representing the command area indicate that the rainfall in the
command area has bimodal pattern, first peak in April –May and second in
August-September. The rain fall during the months of June and July is low and
uncertain. In remaining months there are no rains. This shows that crop growth
season has to coincide with the rainy months. This is responsible for poor
productivity.

Length of growing periods and sowing times of crops depend mainly on

minimum and maximum temperatures which vary within a narrow limit. This
permits the sowing and harvesting of crops at convenience depending upon
availability of water.

The remaining parameters such as wind speed and relative humidity have only
moderate values and do not affect crop productivity and crop water use
significantly.

The sun shine hours indicate long bright days having eight to nine and half hours
of bright sun shine. During the rainy season the sunshine hours get reduced to six
to seven hours owing to clouds.

The climatic parameters indicated above suggest that crop production cannot
increased and stabilised with out perennial irrigation in the proposed command
area of Erer project

2.3 TOPOGRAPHY OF COMMAND AREA.

The topography of proposed command area varies from flat to gently slopping. The
altitude of command area varies from 1280 to 1365 m above mean sea level. The slope of
river The surrounding cultivated areas of Harar and Babile Woreda are situated on higher
elevation. No major efforts will be required for levelling of land if irrigated agriculture is
to be practised. Also, natural vegetation is sparsely located and shallow rooted excepting
some patches where acacia trees exist. Only moderate expenditure will be involved in
removing the natural vegetation and preparation of land for irrigation.

2.4 POPULATION

The total population of the rural communities of two Woredas, about eleven
Kebeles fall in command and reservoir areas is 40,317 who are clustered in about
7,934 households. It is estimated that about 3,462 households will be displaced
from their villages and/or lands from reservoir area (approximately 1985 ha).
These households need to be settled at other places.
The quality of housing in project affected area is good. The majority of people
live in wood and mud houses with corrugated iron sheet roofs. The majority of
houses tend to give shelter to both people and their livestock. The coverage of
potable water is limited to about 48 % households ( 2006 data).

2.5 LAND USE

The designated area of Erer irrigation project is surrounded by extensive coverage

of natural vegetation comprising of cactus, thorny bushes, shrubs and acacia trees
with very little grazing land which is located beneath the natural vegetation and
on steep sloping lands. As observed, the cultivation is mainly rain fed in majority of
areas situated in the proposed command area of the project excepting in riverbed where
some irrigated agriculture is being practised. There are three small irrigation schemes
already operative in the command area. These are said to have been constructed and
operated by Munchen fur Munchen, a NGO. The total irrigated area from these schemes
is of the order of 20 ha. The agriculture practices are traditional oxen-cultivation based
and local ploughs and hand tools are used in cultivation.

Amongst the crops, most commonly cultivated crops observed are maize,
groundnut, vegetable crops (of onion, tomato, pepper) and fruit trees of mango.
To some extent sorghum, sweet potato, haricot beans, banana, papaya and citrus
are grown in and around command area. Chat, a stimulant is also grown
extensively. The local crop varieties are used. No fertilizers and
insecticide/pesticides are being used in rain fed agriculture.

2.6 PROJECT COMPONENTS

The Erer Irrigation project is proposed to comprise of the following components-

i) A storage reservoir on river Erer situated at about 6.0 km distance upstream of its
crossing with Harar-Jijiga road which intends to controls the flow of river water to
provide supplementary irrigation water to the area situated in the downstream side of
the proposed dam site.

ii) A network of canal and drains working in complementary and

supplementary manner by serving the irrigation supply and removing the excess water
in appropriate time from irrigated command.

3.0 SOIL SUITABILITY

Soils influence crop suitability, choice of land utilization types, drainability

etc. Therefore extensive soil surveys and investigations are carried out in fairly
large area encompassing the whole of the proposed command of Erer irrigation
project. The soil surveys and investigations have provided detailed information
on the soils and land of command area for selection of crops and irrigation
designs.
 3.1 PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS

3.1.1 TEXTURE

Most soils has clay loam and loam texture. The soils derived from volcanic
ash and limestone has loam or silty clay loam texture. The soils derived from
sandstone fall under the sandy textural class.

3.1.2 DRAINAGE CLASS

The concept of soil drainage refers to the frequency and duration of periods
when soil is free of saturation or partial saturation by water. The soil drainage is
reflected by colours of soil materials. The soil drainage of the project area falls
in moderate drainage class. The soils situated in flood plains are imperfectly
drained because they are situated in low areas.

3.1.3 SOIL DEPTH

The soils in proposed command area are deep to very deep, except the
dissected to undulating dissected and rolling dissected soils, which are shallow
to very shallow soils. Thus depth of soils will not cause any problem for
irrigated agriculture.

3.1.4 SOIL TYPE

Medium texture soils are found to be situated in higher elevation areas
which are either luvisols or cambisols. These are easy to manage and have good
permeability and productivity. The soils mainly along riverbed are vertisols
which are black to dark brown in colour. These soils have low permeability and
are expanding and cracking type. These soils require special management and
attention for adequate drainage.
3.1.5 INFILTRATION RATES

The permeability tests have been carried out along the alignment of primary canal and
secondary canals at only four places because on visual examination the soils along the
entire alignment of primary canal and secondary canal were found almost identical. It
was also revealed in pre- feasibility and feasibility reports that the soils along the
proposed canal alignment were of the same type and were not having high infiltration
rates. Therefore no lining was proposed in the feasibility report. In view of this only a
few infiltration tests are proposed. The observed rates of permeability and infiltration
are given as below:

Site Location Av. Infiltration rate Av. Permeability

( cm/hr) ( cm/s)

1 N: 1025471, E: 0196270 5.48 2.08*10-6

2 N: 1020752, E: 0177012 15.02 1.04*10-6

3 N: 1012146, E: o196380 1.96 1.62*10-6

4 N: 1016979, E: 0193575 2.13 2.08*10-6

If test results at either of the sites had indicated higher infiltration rates
more sites would have been selected to identify selected reaches for provide
lining. The above table reveals that the infiltration rates are in medium range
and do not warrant the provision of the lining in any part of canal system.
.

3.2 CHEMICAL CHARACTERISTICS

On chemical analysis of the soil samples following parameters are obtained:
 (i) pH ranges from6.7 to 8.89 which shows neutral to alkaline. At this
level availability of micronutrients will reduce.
(ii) Nitrogen percentage ranges from 0.02 to 0.44 Which is considered
low to medium.
(iii) Organic Carbon Content varies from 0.479 to 2.99 which is quite
low.
(iv) Carbon: Nitrogen Ratio ranges from 7.94 to 10.56 which shows
that there will be general response to the Nitrogen fertilizers
(v) Cation Exchange Capacity varies from 18.81 to 31.93 which is
medium to high.
(vi) Base Saturation Percentage is greater than 74.22% which shows
that the soils are fertile.
(vii) Exchangeable Sodium Percentage varies from 1.98 to 6.3 % which
is low to medium and are within acceptable limits.
(viii) Electrical Conductivity varies from 0.12 to 0.45 dSm-1 which indicates
low concentration of soluble salts. The salinity can not be a problem in
this type of soils.
(ix) The soils have low to medium levels of phosphorus ranging from 4.82 to
18.23 ppm. For crops which demand more phosphorus need in excess of
20 %. Thus in general response to the phosphorus fertilizers is expected to
be good.

4.0 CROP WATER REQUIREMENT

4.1 CROPPING PATTERN

Climate, soils, availability of water and requirement of food, fibre, money etc. decides the
nature, scope and extent of crops to be grown in a particular area. Basically people settled
in any area decide the type of crops required to be grown for their own consumption.
The main crops to be grown in the command area should be determined in due
consultation with the Agriculture Department and the agriculturists, looking to the crops
being grown presently and cropping pattern to be introduced for irrigated farming. Crop
Calendar, crop water requirement and cropping intensities should be finalized in
consideration with socio-economic factors of the area and also on the basis of the
experience gained in irrigation projects implemented in the country.

4.2 PROPOSED CROPPING PATTERN

On interaction with farmers of project area and on the basis of preliminary surveys,
referring to the studies done in past, the Project Agronomist has proposed the following
Cropping Pattern for Erer Irrigation Project.

Cropping Pattern

Season 1 Meher Season

Crop type Planting date Area%

Maize July 30
Sorghum July 5
Ground nut July 20
Rice July 10
Haricot Bean July 5
Vegetables July 10
Alfalfa July 5
Sugarcane July 10
Orchard July 5
Total 100 %

Season 2 Belg Season

Maize Feb 30
Tomato Feb 5
Rice Feb 12
Potato Feb 5
Okra Feb 5
Sweet potato Feb 5
Vegetables Feb 5
Haricot beans April 3
Sugarcane July 10
Alfalfa July 5
 Orchard July 5
Total 90
Total For Season-1 and Season-2 170%
Cropping ( 20 % crops are perennial crops)
intensity

Project specification:
1. Total command irrigable area is 1000 ha
2. Divide the area in to 4 sub plot for different crop in each plot.
3. The choice of crop is your decision for maximum return, cultural practices and
climatic condition.
4. Assume there is plenty of irrigation water.
5. Do crop water requirement for each selected crop in each plot using CropWat
a. Make sure to report assumption you made for each case
b. Soil type
c. Crop root depth
d. Water holding capacity
e. Soil depletion factor
f. Etc
6. In your design you have to determine the following: the essential questions to be
asked about the surface irrigation system are:
a. What kind of surface system should be selected? This one is already
selected to you (it is furrow irrigation)
b. What flow units are best suited for the situation?
c. What is the best furrow spacing and length?
d. When should the inflow be discontinued?
e. What is the best field slope and length?
f. What structures and facilities are needed?
g. What provisions should be made for tailwater?
h. Etc
7. Detail design procedure: Input data for design—The interactive design process
normally requires inflow controls, field topography/geometry, and infiltration
characteristics. There are then five special inputs for the design process:
• total available flow
• total time flow is available
• maximum nonerosive flow velocity
• design flow per unit width
• design cutoff time
 Irrigation interval and other

8. At the head use siphon as shown in the fig below

9. Design the canal (man canal able to cary irrigation water for 1000ha, secondary
and/or other canal if needed)
10. You are expected to provide drawing of the field layout like the one shown below.