GRADIENT PROFILE ANALYSIS OF THE BLUE NILE (ABBA Y) RIVER: A NATURAL RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT PERSPECTIVE

Abstract

the Ethiopian portion of the Blue Nile River is made to assess the
potetllial of the river for irrigation and hydroelectric power developmem.
The analysiS was carried out by using Arc View GIS 3.2 software. digital
elevation model (DEM), topographic maps, and factual field data. in this
paper, the gradient of a river is used as a 1001 10 identify pOlential sites for
irrigation and hydroelectric power. The gradient value is computed from
contours produced from the DEM by dividing the challge in elevation
between two successive 20 m contour intervals by the lateral distance. The
contour values of the DEM have been crosschecked for accuracy against
those produced by the Ethiopian Mapping Agency. The results indicate that
there are three low gradient areas that are potential sites Jor irrigation
development, and five high gradient areas that offer potellcial sites for
hydroelectric power, generatioll. This technique can be extended to explore
potential sites for irrigation development and hydroeleclric power
generation for the tributaries and headwaters of the Abbay River System
and other river ~ystems.