Abstract:
The study area, the Kulfo River basin, is located 500 km south of Addis
Ababa. It is bounded on the basis of the surface divide of the Kulfo River. The
area is composed of part of the rift floor and part of the western escarpment. More
than 85% of the area is underlain by Oligocene basalt and the lowland areas by
alluvium and Quaternary basalt.
Using thrE;!e meteorological stations, the weighted mean annual rainfall of
1232 mm was computed by using the Thiessen Polygon method. The
Thornthwaite method was applied to calculate the potential and actual
evapotranspiration of the area, which are 971 mm and 940 mm, respectively.
From the above data, the surplus water was obtained, which is 291 mm. The
mean annual runoff depth of the Kulfo river is 361 mm which is less than the
calculated surplus water. The reason might be that there is an inflow of
groundwater from an adjacent basin.
Concerning the aquifer characterstics of the different rock units, the
alluvium is more productive than the other rock units. One representative well from
AWn was taken to calcualte the hydraulic parameters of this unit.
Using the discharge data from Arbaminch Springs, the general hydrological
conditions of the springs were computed. This includes the computation of the
recession constants and the recession curve for the springs. The hydraulic volume
which feeds the springs instant by instant were also computed. The study of the
chemistry of the springs was based on data from WSSA's Arbaminch water supply
project. This study confirms that the quality of the water is suitable for drinking and
agricultural purposes according to international standards. However, the presence
of E. coli bacteria indicates that the water needs to be chlorinated on a regular
basis.