scholarly journals Assessing the impacts of different land uses and soil and water conservation interventions on runoff and sediment yield at different scales in the central highlands of Ethiopia

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-15 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tesfaye Yaekob ◽  
Lulseged Tamene ◽  
Solomon G. Gebrehiwot ◽  
Solomon S. Demissie ◽  
Zenebe Adimassu ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Soil Erosion ◽  
Sediment Yield ◽  
Water Conservation ◽  
Moisture Stress ◽  
Quantitative Information ◽  
Soil And Water Conservation ◽  
Land Uses ◽  
Central Highlands ◽  
The Government ◽  
Soil And Water

Abstract To tackle the problem of soil erosion and moisture stress, the government of Ethiopia introduced a yearly mass campaign where communities get together and implement various soil and water conservation (SWC) and water harvesting (WH) practices. Although the interventions are believed to have reduced soil erosion/sediment yield and enhanced surface and ground water, quantitative information on the impacts of various options at different scales is scarce. The objective of this study was to assess the impacts different land uses, SWC and WH interventions on water and suspended sediment yield (SSY) at plot and watershed scales in the central highlands of Ethiopia. Standard erosion plot experiments and hydrological stations were used to monitor the daily water and SSY during 2014 to 2017. The results show differences between treatments both at plot and watershed scales. Runoff and soil loss were reduced by an average 27 and 37%, respectively due to SWC practices at the plot level. Overall, SWC practices implemented at the watershed level reduced sediment yield by about 74% (in the year 2014), although the magnitude of sediment reduction due to the SWC interventions reduced over time. At both scales it was observed that as the number of years since SWC measures have been in place increased, their effectiveness declined due to the lack of maintenance. This study also revealed that extrapolating of plot data to watershed scale causes over or under estimation of net erosion.

scholarly journals Application of a modified distributed-dynamic erosion and sediment yield model in a typical watershed of hilly and gully region, Chinese Loess Plateau

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lei Wu ◽  
Xia Liu ◽  
Xiaoyi Ma
Keyword(s):  
Soil Erosion ◽  
Loess Plateau ◽  
Sediment Yield ◽  
Water Conservation ◽  
Soil And Water Conservation ◽  
Chinese Loess Plateau ◽  
Rainfall Erosivity ◽  
Chinese Loess ◽  
Before And After ◽  
Soil And Water

Abstract. Soil erosion not only results in the destruction of land resources and the decline of soil fertility, but also makes river channel sedimentation. In order to explore spatiotemporal evolution of erosion and sediment yield before and after returning farmland in a typical watershed of hilly and gully region, Chinese Loess Plateau, a distributed, dynamic model of sediment yield based on the Chinese Soil Loss equation (CSLE) was established and modified to assess effects of hydrological factors and human activities on soil erosion and sediment yield from 1995 to 2013. Results indicate that: 1) the modified model has characteristics of simple algorithm, high accuracy, wide practicability and easy expansion, and can be applied to forecast erosion and sediment yield of the hilly and gully region, Chinese Loess Plateau; 2) soil erosion gradations are closely related to spatial distributions of rainfall erosivity and land use patterns, the current soil and water conservation projects are not very ideal for high rainfall intensity; 3) the average sediment transport modulus before and after model modification in recent 5 years (in addition to 2013) is 4574.62 Mg/km2 and 1696.1 Mg/km2 respectively, it has decreased by about 35.4 % and 78.2 % compared with the early governance (1995–1998). However, in July 2013 the once-in-a-century storm is the most important factor causing the emergence of maximum value. Results may provide effective and scientific basis for soil and water conservation and ecological management of the hilly and gully region, Chinese Loess Plateau.

scholarly journals Assessment and Documentation of Indigenous and Introduced Soil and Water Conservation Measures in Some Parts of Southern Ethiopia

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dawit Kanito ◽  
Tsegaye Bekele ◽  
Tesfaye Dawit ◽  
Seyfu T/yohannes
Keyword(s):  
Soil Erosion ◽  
Water Conservation ◽  
Soil And Water Conservation ◽  
Southern Ethiopia ◽  
Conservation Practices ◽  
Optimum Level ◽  
Land Productivity ◽  
Conservation Measures ◽  
The Government ◽  
Soil And Water

Abstract BackgroundIn Ethiopia, soil and water conservation activities were started after the famines of 1973 and 1985. Following this, different conservation measures were implemented by the government, non-government organizations, and the community to facilitate the optimum level of production from a given area of land while keeping soil loss below a critical value. This study was conducted at Wolaita, Hadiya, Kambata Tambaro, and Dawro Zones of Southern Ethiopia. It was designed to identify indigenous and introduced soil and water conservation practices, measure and describe identified practices, and document the identified practice for further reference. ResultsThe result revealed that three types of soil and water conservation practices namely biological, physical, and agronomical were implementing in the study areas. The result from the technical evaluation showed that soil bund and fanya juu has channel depth and embankment height lower than the recommended dimension. The result also indicated that less attention was given to indigenous soil and water conservation practices. Besides, the sustainability gap in constructed conservation practices was widely perceived.ConclusionsFarmers in the study area are well acquainted with soil erosion, its cause, and consequent reduction in land productivity. They confirm that implementing SWC measures are insurance to sustain and boost soil fertility and land productivity. In southern Ethiopia government and peoples were invested much more time, money, knowledge, and manpower to construct SWC measures. But, year by year structures get damage and yet seem not substantial to achieve the sector of sustainable agriculture. Besides, the study revealed that identified practices such as traditional cutoff drain, fanya juu, soil bund, stone-faced soil bund, fanya juu, brushwood, and gabion check-dams have technical, social, and institutional difficulties. The major gap observed with indigenous conservation practices is, it had been taken less attention by different stakeholders including GOs, NGOs, and research institutes. As a result, their respective dimension was not modified, effective measures were not up-scaled and circulated to other areas having similar agroecology and farming system. Thus, apparently, traditional conservation measures are aggravating soil erosion and their construction did not consider the downstream effect on dwelling community, water bodies, and aquatic lives.

scholarly journals Assessment and Documentation of Indigenous and Introduced Soil and Water Conservation Measures in Some Parts of Southern Ethiopia

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dawit Kanito Kassa ◽  
Tsegaye Bekele ◽  
Tesfaye Dawit ◽  
Seyfu T/yohannes
Keyword(s):  
Soil Erosion ◽  
Water Conservation ◽  
Soil And Water Conservation ◽  
Southern Ethiopia ◽  
Conservation Practices ◽  
Optimum Level ◽  
Land Productivity ◽  
Conservation Measures ◽  
The Government ◽  
Soil And Water

Abstract BackgroundIn Ethiopia, soil and water conservation activities were started after the famines of 1973 and 1985. Following this, different conservation measures were implemented by the government, non-government organizations, and the community to facilitate the optimum level of production from a given area of land while keeping soil loss below a critical value. This study was conducted at Wolaita, Hadiya, Kambata Tambaro, and Dawro Zones of Southern Ethiopia. It was designed to identify indigenous and introduced soil and water conservation practices, measure and describe identified practices, and document the identified practice for further reference. ResultsThe result revealed that three types of soil and water conservation practices namely biological, physical, and agronomical were implementing in the study areas. The result from the technical evaluation showed that soil bund and fanya juu has channel depth and embankment height lower than the recommended dimension. The result also indicated that less attention was given to indigenous soil and water conservation practices. Besides, the sustainability gap in constructed conservation practices was widely perceived. ConclusionsFarmers in the study area are well acquainted with soil erosion, its cause, and consequent reduction in land productivity. They confirm that implementing SWC measures are insurance to sustain and boost soil fertility and land productivity. In southern Ethiopia government and peoples were invested much more time, money, knowledge, and manpower to construct SWC measures. But, year by year structures get damage and yet seem not substantial to achieve the sector of sustainable agriculture. Besides, the study revealed that identified practices such as traditional cutoff drain, fanya juu, soil bund, stone-faced soil bund, fanya juu, brushwood, and gabion check-dams have technical, social, and institutional difficulties. The major gap observed with indigenous conservation practices is, it had been taken less attention by different stakeholders including GOs, NGOs, and research institutes. As a result, their respective dimension was not modified, effective measures were not up-scaled and circulated to other areas having similar agroecology and farming system. Thus, apparently, traditional conservation measures are aggravating soil erosion and their construction did not consider the downstream effect on dwelling community, water bodies, and aquatic lives.

scholarly journals Application of a modified distributed-dynamic erosion and sediment yield model in a typical watershed of a hilly and gully region, Chinese Loess Plateau

Solid Earth ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 7 (6) ◽  
pp. 1577-1590 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lei Wu ◽  
Xia Liu ◽  
Xiaoyi Ma
Keyword(s):  
Soil Erosion ◽  
Loess Plateau ◽  
Sediment Yield ◽  
Water Conservation ◽  
Soil And Water Conservation ◽  
Chinese Loess Plateau ◽  
Rainfall Erosivity ◽  
Chinese Loess ◽  
Before And After ◽  
Soil And Water

Abstract. Soil erosion not only results in the destruction of land resources and the decline of soil fertility, but also contributes to river channel sedimentation. In order to explore the spatiotemporal evolution of erosion and sediment yield before and after returning farmland in a typical watershed of the hilly and gully region (Chinese Loess Plateau), a distributed-dynamic model of sediment yield based on the Chinese Soil Loss Equation (CSLE) was established and modified to assess the effects of hydrological factors and human activities on erosion and sediment yield between 1995 and 2013. Results indicate that (1) the modified model has the characteristics of a simple algorithm, high accuracy, wide practicability and easy expansion, and can be applied to predict erosion and sediment yield in the study area, (2) soil erosion gradations are closely related to the spatial distribution of rainfall erosivity and land use patterns, and the current soil and water conservation measures are not efficient for high rainfall intensities, and (3) the average sediment yield rate before and after model modification in the most recent 5 years (in addition to 2013) is 4574.62 and 1696.1 Mg km−2, respectively, decreasing by about 35.4 and 78.2 % when compared to the early governance (1995–1998). However, in July 2013 the once-in-a-century storm is the most important reason for maximum sediment yield. Results may provide an effective and scientific basis for soil and water conservation planning and ecological construction of the hilly and gully region, Chinese Loess Plateau.

scholarly journals Assessment and Documentation of Indigenous and Introduced Soil and Water Conservation Measures in Some Parts of Southern Ethiopia

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dawit Kanito ◽  
Tsegaye Bekele ◽  
Tesfaye Dawit ◽  
Seyfu T/yohannes
Keyword(s):  
Soil Erosion ◽  
Water Conservation ◽  
Soil And Water Conservation ◽  
Southern Ethiopia ◽  
Conservation Practices ◽  
Optimum Level ◽  
Land Productivity ◽  
Conservation Measures ◽  
The Government ◽  
Soil And Water

Abstract BackgroundIn Ethiopia, soil and water conservation activities were started after the famines of 1973 and 1985. Following this, different conservation measures were implemented by the government, non-government organizations, and the community to facilitate the optimum level of production from a given area of land while keeping soil loss below a critical value. This study was conducted at Wolaita, Hadiya, Kambata Tambaro, and Dawro Zones of Southern Ethiopia. It was designed to identify indigenous and introduced soil and water conservation practices, measure and describe identified practices, and document the identified practice for further reference. ResultsThe result revealed that three types of soil and water conservation practices namely biological, physical, and agronomical were implementing in the study areas. The result from the technical evaluation showed that soil bund and fanya juu has channel depth and embankment height lower than the recommended dimension. The result also indicated that less attention was given to indigenous soil and water conservation practices. Besides, the sustainability gap in constructed conservation practices was widely perceived.ConclusionsFarmers in the study area are well acquainted with soil erosion, its cause, and consequent reduction in land productivity. They confirm that implementing SWC measures are insurance to sustain and boost soil fertility and land productivity. In southern Ethiopia government and peoples were invested much more time, money, knowledge, and manpower to construct SWC measures. But, year by year structures get damage and yet seem not substantial to achieve the sector of sustainable agriculture. Besides, the study revealed that identified practices such as traditional cutoff drain, fanya juu, soil bund, stone-faced soil bund, fanya juu, brushwood, and gabion check-dams have technical, social, and institutional difficulties. The major gap observed with indigenous conservation practices is, it had been taken less attention by different stakeholders including GOs, NGOs, and research institutes. As a result, their respective dimension was not modified, effective measures were not up-scaled and circulated to other areas having similar agroecology and farming system. Thus, apparently, traditional conservation measures are aggravating soil erosion and their construction did not consider the downstream effect on dwelling community, water bodies, and aquatic lives.

scholarly journals Effects of water and soil conservation works on runoff and sediment variation in the areas with high and coarse sediment yield of the middle Yellow River

2018 ◽  
Vol 38 ◽  
pp. 01033
Author(s):  
Wei Ying Sun ◽  
Pan Zhang ◽  
Li Li ◽  
Jiang Nan Chen
Keyword(s):  
Sediment Yield ◽  
Water Conservation ◽  
Human Activities ◽  
Soil Conservation ◽  
Yellow River ◽  
Soil And Water Conservation ◽  
Contribution Rate ◽  
Rainfall Variation ◽  
Runoff Reduction ◽  
Soil And Water

The areas with high and coarse sediment yield of the middle Yellow River is well known for its severe erosion, high sediment yields. Since 1982 when the 8 key soil and water conservation harnessing regions has been built, the ecological environment has been gradually improved and the amount of sediment and runoff entering the Yellow River has been reduced continuously. Some researchers considered that it was owing to the water and soil conservation works (WSCW), while others believed that it was caused by the rainfall variation, but this has not been quantified for the effect respectively. This paper deals with the effects of WSCW on runoff and sediment variation. The study has been carried out in the Sanchuanhe River watershed, where was listed as one of the 8 key soil and water conservation harnessing regions. The results show that the contribution rate of human activities was 80.2% after 1st harnessing stage (1970-1979), 43.0% after 2nd harnessing stage (1980-1989), in 3rd harnessing stage (1990-1996) it reached 98.4%, and was 44.8% after 4th harnessing stage (1997-2006). With regard to the influence on runoff reduction in the watershed, the contribution rate of human activities was 62.5% compared with the natural factors after 1st harnessing stage (1970-1979), 28.4% after 2nd harnessing stage (1980-1989), in 3rd harnessing stage (1990-1996) it reached 69.6%, and was 37.0% after 4th harnessing stage (1997-2006). The results revealed that human activities exerted the largest effects on the sediment reduction and explained 66.6% of the variation in the specific sediment yield. This study suggests that a combination of human activities and rainfall variation effectively reduces runoff and sediment delivery of the Loess Plateau. Generally The runoff reduction and contribution of rainfall variation to runoff reduction in this area were as large as human activities. After many years' harnessing the great benefit have been obtained in water and soil loss control in this watershed.

scholarly journals Soil Erosion and Crop Productivity Loss in Palghar and Thane Districts of Maharashtra

Agropedology ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 28 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
S. V. Shejale ◽  
◽  
S. B. Nandgude ◽  
S. S. Salunkhe ◽  
M. A. Phadtare ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Soil Erosion ◽  
Water Conservation ◽  
Soil Loss ◽  
Productivity Loss ◽  
Research Work ◽  
Crop Productivity ◽  
Soil And Water Conservation ◽  
Conservation Practice ◽  
Conservation Measures ◽  
Soil And Water

Present research work was carried out on soil erosion and crop productivity loss in Palghar and Thane districts. The study also describes tolerable soil loss and relationship between top-soil loss and yield loss. The estimated average annual soil loss was 40.45 t ha-1yr-1 before adoption of the soil and water conservation measures (by USLE method) and estimated average tolerable soil loss was 9.36 t ha-1 yr-1, for Palghar district. Similarly, for Thane district the estimated average annual soil loss and tolerable soil loss were found to be 35.89 t ha-1 yr-1 and 9.61 t ha-1 yr-1, respectively for Thane district. The estimated average conservation practice factor (P) factors were obtained as 0.32 for Palghar district and 0.30 for Thane district to bring the soil loss below the tolerable limit. After adoption of soil and water conservation measures, the estimated soil loss were 9.02 t ha-1 yr-1 and 9.38 t ha-1 yr-1 for Palghar and Thane districts, respectively.

Soil and Water Conservation Society and the Construction of Ecological Civilization City

2014 ◽  
Vol 977 ◽  
pp. 290-294 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhi Qiang Yu ◽  
Qiang Gao ◽  
Wen Feng Ding
Keyword(s):  
Soil Erosion ◽  
Social Construction ◽  
Water Loss ◽  
Water Conservation ◽  
Soil And Water Conservation ◽  
Ecological Civilization ◽  
Soil And Water Loss ◽  
The Social ◽  
The City ◽  
Soil And Water

In recent years , with the acceleration of the process of China's modernization cities , soil erosion and lead to many more serious environmental problems . This paper describes the harm to the social construction of ecological civilization city soil and water loss,analyzed the causes of soil erosion,and finally illustrates the importance of soil and water conservation of the city and puts forward some suggestions for the construction of soil and water conservation.

scholarly journals Causes of Variations in Sediment Yield in the Jinghe River Basin, China

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jinliang Zhang ◽  
Yizi Shang ◽  
Jinyong Liu ◽  
Jian Fu ◽  
Shitao Wei ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
River Basin ◽  
Sediment Yield ◽  
Water Conservation ◽  
Yellow River ◽  
Soil And Water Conservation ◽  
Water Diversion ◽  
Sediment Discharge ◽  
Jinghe River Basin ◽  
Jinghe River ◽  
Soil And Water

Abstract The Jinghe River remains the major sediment source of the Yellow River in China; however, sediment discharge in the Jinghe River has reduced significantly since the 1950s. The objective of this study is to identify the causes of sediment yield variations in the Jinghe River Basin based on soil and water conservation methods and rainfall analyses. The results revealed that soil and water conservation projects were responsible for half of the total sediment reduction; sediment retention due to reservoirs and water diversion projects was responsible for 1.3% of the total reduction. Moreover, the Jinghe River Basin has negligible opportunity to improve its vegetation cover (currently 55% of the basin is covered with lawns and trees), and silt-arrester dams play a smaller role in reducing sediment significantly before they are entirely full. Therefore, new large-scale sediment trapping projects must be implemented across the Jinghe River Basin, where heavy rainfall events are likely to substantially increase in the future, leading to higher sediment discharge.

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