Urban Drainage Management in Mekelle, Ethiopia: Part-I

Proper urban drainage management is core to safely discharge flood generated within an urban area or from external source in to final receiving systems or to encourage on-site infiltration. With urban development flood hazard increases due to imperiousness and this reduces the infiltration capacity of a land. Similarly with the foundation of Mekelle city, flood generation became a core problem as a result of deforestation and impervious structures. According to various studies, urban storm water drainage facilities provision in it had started with road construction. Since then the municipality has tried its best to provide drainage facilities in different periods of time. But, generally, urban storm water drainage management in the city is very minimal. Because of this land degradation, river bank erosion, urban utilities degradation, natural water ways pollution and siltation and related problems are common phenomenon. The conventional way of urban drainage management is also the other problem to manage storm water in the city. That is why, this study has given a due attention to find out what real problems exist in managing the drainage system. This study is Road-map to Part-II