Browsing by Author "Rekik, Hibistu"
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Item Estimating the Environmental Water Requirement of Lake Abijata As A Basis for Ecosystem Development(Addis Ababa University, 2019-05) Rekik, Hibistu; Belete, Berhanu (PhD)Quantification of Environmental Water Requirement based on random percentage of annual mean flow do not address the actual needs of the water dependent ecosystems, it possibly overestimates or underestimate the requirements. Scientific communities worldwide are working to design an appropriate approach for the quantification of the environmental water requirements for an interest area. Among their efforts," habitat based approach" is a popular method in estimating environmental water needs. The environmental water requirement of Lake Abjiata is computed based on this approach by estimating the water requirement of Lesser Flamingos, which are dominant birds that feed on the lake but significantly reducing in number. Their water requirement was computed indirectly based on their food and energy requirement and on the water requirements of their main food, the microalgae known as Arthrospira Spirullina. In addition the estimation considers the direct evaporation from the lake and drinking water requirement of the birds, Therefore, this study estimated the environmental water requirement of Lake Abijata to support 108,275 Lesser Flamingos within 132 km lake area as 221.8MCM. In addition the study evaluates the water balance of the lake to support, this environmental water requirement and confirmed that the environmental water requirement accounts for 50.6% of the mean annual inflow to the Lake, which includes the direct rainfall over the lake and river inflow from the lake catchment.