Study of the Urban Drainage System in Addis Ababa, Yeka Sub-city.
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Date
2016-04
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Addis Ababa University
Abstract
Urbanization along with its impervious structures is the major challenge of urban
centers. The foundation and expansion of Addis Ababa was associated with the rapid
conversion of land from rural to urban uses more than anywhere else in the country. For
the last one hundred twenty years it has been noticed that there is an intensive
conversion of rural land to urban development such as buildings, transportation
networks, recreation areas, reservoirs and others where most of them are impermeable.
This study has investigated the overall environmental challenges of the urban drainage
system. This study has particularly carried out in three sample kebeles (kebele 01/02,
08/15 and 13/14) within Yeka sub-city. These kebeles were selected because of the fact
that they are representative to address the objectives of this study. Deforestation and
pavement of structures are the major problems in the study area. An exploratory and
Descriptive type of research design methods were used to describe and explore the
existing condition of the general urban drainage system and the natural water ways.
Data collection methods were carried out using both primary and secondary data
sources. The secondary data source was only relevant to reinforce the primary data.
The collected data were analyzed with Ms-excel, AutoCAD and ArcGIS. The results
have been presented with known statistical tools. The findings of this study indicated
that the major causes of flooding was found due to the deforestation of Yeka mountain,
inadequate integration between road and urban storm water drainage lines. Solid and
liquid waste damping was also the biggest challenges on the general urban drainage
system. This study strongly recommends the implementation of the planned and
designed urban drainage. The use of porous structures like grassing on compounds and
road sides instead of pavements will contribute valuable advantages towards the
sustainable urban drainage management. Furthermore, the existing natural water ways
or rivers had better provided with buffer zones to use them for various recreation
purposes and to keep the well being of residents. Besides, the Yeka Mountain shall be
vegetated with good conservation practices with a strong emphasis to fast growing
indigenous trees which can replace the ever existing eucalyptus trees with its
allelophatic effect to other indigenous trees and shrubs.
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Keywords
Environmental Engineering