MULTI CRITERIA ANALYSIS FOR EFFECTIVE RAIN WATER HARVESTING SITE IDENTIFICATION IN KONSO ZONE, ETHIOPIA

Abstract

The Konso zone population has limited resources, high vulnerability to climate change, traditional agriculture practices, and is adversely affected by water scarcity. In response, utilizing rainfall efficiently and sustainably is crucial to improve the performance of rainfed farming and water shortage in this zone. Rainwater harvesting (RWH) is one option to use rainfall better by capturing and storing when rainfall is abundant for periods when water is scarce. However, providing information on the suitability of areas for different types of RWH systems is an important step before the actual planning and implementation. The main objective of this study was to identify an optimal site for effective rainwater harvesting by using multi-criteria analysis integrated with GIS in the Konso zone of southern Ethiopia. Biophysical and socioeconomic factors were the main decision criteria, i.e. rainfall, land cover, curve number, topographic wetness index, slope, distance from agriculture area, lineament density, geology, distance from the road