Climate change impacts on the water and groundwater resources of the Lake Tana Basin, Ethiopia

Climate change impacts on the water cycle can severely affect regions that rely on groundwater to meet their water demands in the mid- to long-term. In the Lake Tana basin, Ethiopia, discharge regimes are dominated by groundwater. We assess the impacts of climate change on the groundwater contribution to streamflow (GWQ) and other major water balance components in two tributary catchments of Lake Tana. Based on an ensemble of 35 bias-corrected regional climate models and a hydrologic catchment model, likely changes under two representative concentration pathways (RCP4.5 and 8.5) are assessed. No or only slight changes in rainfall depth are expected, but the number of rainy days is expected to decrease. Compared to the baseline average, GWQ is projected to decrease whereas surface runoff is projected to increase. Hence, rainfall trends alone are not revealing future water availability and may even be misleading, if regions rely heavily on groundwater.

Automated summary

This study assesses the impact of climate change on groundwater contribution to streamflow and other major water balance components in two tributary catchments of Lake Tana in Ethiopia. Results show that groundwater contribution is projected to decrease while surface runoff is projected to increase, indicating that relying solely on rainfall trends may not accurately reflect future water availability.