Water resources survey and model analysis in Dikhill area, Djibouti

Abstract

The Republic of Djibouti is a dry region with a large part of the country covered by the desert, and the majority of its people are nomadic despite the harsh environment of an annual maximum temperature of 50 degrees Celsius and an annual rainfall of 150 mm or less. Most of the people’s access to water resources depends on groundwater from wells. In addition, the Ministry of Agriculture has turned to agriculture using a small amount of water resources to cope with the drought that has occurred frequently in recent years.

The Ministry of Agriculture and UN agencies have created maps summarizing information on water resources in the past, but many of the final survey years were in the 1990s, and were updated again based on changes in location accuracy and water use at the time.

The study area covers the Hanle Catchment, which is located on the west side of Djibouti and runs from south to north in the Dikhil area where the number of farmers is highest. A survey was conducted to find out how water resources were used. As a result, a total of 18 surveys were conducted, and information was obtained on the current usage and water quality. In addition, in order to understand the change of flowing groundwater resources, analysis using a model is performed and the results are reported.