article · Discover Applied Sciences
In the Gurnd watershed of North Wollo, Ethiopia, irregular rainfall causes frequent droughts and crop failures. To address low adoption and operational issues with rainwater harvesting, geographic information systems, analytical hierarchy process techniques, and multi-criteria decision analysis were applied to evaluate potential harvesting locations. Five physical parameters and an integrated Soil Conservation Service-Curve Number model were used to assess runoff potential across 525.3 hectares. The analysis revealed that 11 percent of the land is extremely suitable, 18.1 percent is suitable, and 28.2 percent is moderately suitable, while the remainder is less suitable or unsuitable. Field validation against existing installations showed that 65.2 percent of existing structures are non-functional, with 40 percent of these inactive structures situated in areas categorised as less suitable or unsuitable. Matching installations to identified suitable zones is critical for functional water infrastructure.
Rural communities in dryland regions face severe threats to food security due to unpredictable rainfall. While rainwater harvesting offers a solution, infrastructure frequently fails when built in poor locations. Using geospatial mapping to identify suitable sites helps planners avoid costly mistakes, ensuring that newly constructed water storage systems remain functional and support long-term agricultural resilience.
This applied research provides a decision-support methodology and suitability map directly usable by regional agricultural planners, non-governmental organisations, and infrastructure developers. The approach has been tested against real-world installations to explain high failure rates, positioning it as an applied planning tool ready to guide future capital investments in local rainwater harvesting structures.
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Rainfall in the North Wollo zone of Ethiopia is irregularly distributed in space and time, leading to frequent crop failures and droughts that threaten food security for rural populations. While rainwater harvesting (RWH) has been promoted by the Ethiopian government and NGOs to enhance agricultural resilience, its adoption remains low due to operational challenges and a lack of site-specific suitability assessments. The objective of this study is to use a GIS-based methodology to find possible rainwater gathering locations for agriculture in the Gurnd watershed. Analytical Hierarchy Processes (AHP) and Multi Criteria Decision Analysis (MCDA) were utilized to find appropriate RWH sites based on five physical parameters. The assigning weight of each component was consistent, as seen by the consistency ratio of 0.086 for assigning values for each factor. A GIS-based integrated Soil Conservation Service-Curve Number (SCS-CN) model was utilized to estimate the depth of runoff potential based on annual rainfall. The study's findings indicate that, of the watershed's 525.3 hectares, 14% are unsuitable, 28.0 percent are less suitable, 28.2 percent are moderately suitable, 18.1% are suitable, and 11% are extremely suitable for a possible RWH site. Validation was done using installed structures to determine the work's dependability. On the final suitability map, the locations of both operational and non-operational Rain Water Harvesting sites were superimposed. According to the results, 65.2% of rainwater harvesting structures are non-functional and just 34.8% of them are operational. A class of suitable potential rainwater harvesting sites included about 25% of functional rainwater harvesting facilities, and 75% of these functional sites fell under the category of moderately acceptable rainwater harvesting sites. 53.3% of non-functional rainwater harvesting structures were found to be in the moderately acceptable class of possible rainwater harvesting locations, while around 40% of non-functional rainwater harvesting structures were found to be in the less to a not suitable class. Among the appropriate class of possible rainwater harvesting locations, the remaining 6.7% of non-functional sites were found.
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DOI: 10.1007/s42452-025-07044-8
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