Beresa
Rainfall recording started in Beresa in June 2004. The Beresa catchment is 2 km from Butajira, which is 200 km to the north
of Awassa. This project area is the greenest of all the project sites.
The main crops observed at the time of the visit included chilli/pepper
and maize.
Topology and Geology
The project area is bordered to the north by the Dobena river, by the
Dobo and Dobena (2000 m) ridges to the South and East and the hills of
Beresa and Getema (3000m) to the west. The lowest point of the study area
is 1945m. This project area is likely to be problematic as the Dobena
river is one of the catchment boundaries. It is likely that there are
several subcatchments within the defined area draining to the Dobena river
at several different points. Two subcatchments are readily identified
separated by a low ridge which is not shown on the topo map. There are
several depressions in the catchment which appear to have no exit.
The underlying geology is volcanic lava flows, which outcrop in some areas.
The lava has weathered to leave a sandy black soil which freely drains.
Hydrological features
There are no surface water features in the catchment, neither gulleys
or drainage ditches, apart from the Dobena river itself, which makes it
difficult to locate where the water exits the study area. There are no
wells either; however, wells do exist on the other side of the Dobena
river. Groundwater is likely to exist, however wells dug in these loose
soils might easily collapse and reportedly there is a hard rock layer
at depth which is impenetrable.
21 water harvesting ponds are to be constructed in the Kebele, 9 lined
with plastic, the rest lined with cement. A Water harvesting pond was
being constructed on the same farm as R3.
Rainfall for June 2004 - Feb 2005
Rainfall for June 2004 - Feb 2005 for the collecting raingauges in Beresa
ranged from 580mm to 370mm. The recording raingauge recorded over 800mm
for the same period. The reason for this discrepancy is not clear.
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