Monitoring the impact of the 2015/16 El Nino on rural water insecurity in Ethiopia: learning lessons for climate resilience

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The developing drought in Ethiopia is linked to the ongoing strong 2015-2016 El Niño event and is leading to widespread food and water insecurity in the region, particularly for the large numbers of people living in remote rural areas. Whilst there is a well-developed national and international response to food insecurity, the failure of local springs and wells, the primary source of water in these areas, has caught many off guard, with growing evidence that migration is driven by water shortage. Research in east Africa during and since the last major El Niño drought in the late 1997/98, indicates that access to reliable groundwater sources is a major contributory factor to improving livelihood resilience, particularly of the poorest.This current El Niño-related drought in Ethiopia, provides an important research opportunity to: (i) gather robust evidence of the behaviour under stress of shallow groundwater sources (mountain springs, valley springs, wells, boreholes); (ii) monitor the timing, magnitude and contamination issues associated with recovery; and (iii) assess the coping strategies developed by family groups and communities as water points fail. Methods developed since the last major El Niño event make this possible, for example: robust inexpensive sensors for continuously measuring groundwater levels, novel rapid methods for indicating pathogen contamination and a new suite of groundwater residence time indicators. With this new evidence it will be possible to ensure vulnerable communities become more resilient to future droughts by: identifying resilient designs of water point; targeting mapping efforts to areas to identify vulnerable areas, and contributing to the design of early warning systems. The research brings together an experienced team from BGS, ODI, and AAU, all of whom are currently working in Ethiopia, supported by partners in the meteorological department at the University of Reading and various implementation partners in Ethiopia.