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Impacts of Land Use Land Cover Changes and Climate Variability on Water Yield in the Dire and Legedadi Watersheds central Ethiopia

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Abstract

Water yield capacity assessment is critical for water management and ecosystem improvement. Using the Integrated Valuation of Ecosystem Services and Tradeoffs (InVEST) model, we assessed the effects of land use changes and climate variability on annual water yield in the Dire and Legedadi watersheds. The model was run using meteorological data, land use, soil depth, plant water content, and biophysical parameters. The impact of land use changes and climate variability was investigated by creating three scenarios: actual conditions, actual conditions with Land Use and Land Cover (LU/LC) remaining constant, and actual conditions without climate variability. The findings revealed that the total water yield in both watersheds has increased. The Legedadi watershed increased total water yield by 15.32% from 111.6 million m3 (1149 mm) in 1995 to 131.8 million m3(1357.5 mm) in 2021; while, the Dire watershed increased total water yield by 32.5% from 259.5 million m3(1202 mm) in 1995 to 386.6 million m3(1790 mm) in 2021. The effect of climate variability on annual water yield was approximately 99.9% and 73.3% in the Legedadi and Dire watersheds, respectively; land use change was 0.01% and 26.7%. Despite its higher water yield, urban and agricultural land expansion may have an impact on water yield. As a result, participatory watershed management interventions that consider landscape patterns are required to optimize and maintain ecosystem services.

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Availability of Data and Material/ Data Availability

The authors want to declare that they can submit the data at whatever time based on request. The data used for the current study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

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Funding

This study is financially supported by Addis Ababa University under the thematic research project on Integrated Landscape-based Management (ILM) Approach for Improving Ecosystem Services, Agricultural Productivity, and Water Availability in the Central Highlands of Ethiopia (ILM-ESAW).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Ethiopian Institute of Architecture, Building Construction, and City Development, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

    Simeneh Admasu & Kumelachew Yeshitela

  2. GFA Consulting Group, Biodiversity and Forests Program in Ethiopia, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

    Simeneh Admasu

  3. College of Natural Science, Center for Environmental Science, Addis Ababa University, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

    Mekuria Argaw

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  1. Simeneh Admasu
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  3. Mekuria Argaw
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"SA designed the research, collects relevant data, analyzed data, and wrote the draft manuscript and KY and MA contributed to the work through their persistent guidance, reviewing, and editing. All authors read and approved the final manuscript".

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Correspondence to Simeneh Admasu.

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Admasu, S., Yeshitela, K. & Argaw, M. Impacts of Land Use Land Cover Changes and Climate Variability on Water Yield in the Dire and Legedadi Watersheds central Ethiopia. Water Conserv Sci Eng 8, 14 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s41101-023-00188-x

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