Water Reports Series

W 01-The Climate of Somalia :
The report documents the climate of Somalia from analyses of historical data extracted from SWALIM and FAO climate databases. The report provides knowledge about the country?s climate to both climate and non-climate professionals. Provided that, monitoring meteorological networks in Somalia are not quite reprehensive to support weather analysis, coupled by long periods of missing values, scientific methods had to be used to interpolate missing data. Results of the analysis are presented in spatial maps and tabular formats in the report. Download Table of Contents, Report (PDF, 9.3MB)

W 02-Somalia Rainfall Observers Manual:
The purpose of this handbook is to explain in simple terms the working of a rain gauge and to provide guidelines for the installation, maintenance reading and recording the rainfall catch from the rain gauge It is intended for use by Observer?s who are part of, or who are associated with, the Somalia Climate observation. Download Table of Contents, Report (PDF, 1.1MB)

W 03-Inventory of Hydrometeorological Data for Somalia:
The report presents inventory of the hydrometeorological data for Somalia. The inventory has both the historical data rescued by SWALIM, as well as the current data collected by SWALIM since 2002 in eff orts to build the national river flow and climate archives for the country. The report also includes a number of thematic climate maps and analysis. The otherwise cumbersome data is presented in the report in a well organised format, easy to understand even for non-experts in this fi eld. The report is useful for those interested in identifying the changes in weather conditions in Somalia over time. Download Table of Contents, Report (PDF, 781KB)

W 05-Status of Medium to Large Irrigation Schemes in Southern Somalia

This report documents findings of an assessment carried out by SWALIM to determine the status of the medium to large irrigation schemes in Southern Somalia and their irrigation infrastructure. Thorough literature review, key contact interviews with extensive remotely sensed data analysis were carried out to arrive at the assessment results. Baseline irrigation infrastructure information database was constructed. The results obtained together with the recommendations are expected to form the bases for the infrastructure rehabilitation efforts by the donor community. Download Table of Contents, Report (PDF, 7.54MB)

W 06-SWIMS Field Data Collection and Software Manual:
SWIMS is a software developed by SWALIM to manage information on the principle water sources for Somalia. To guide SWIMS users, SWALIM developed two manuals: Vol I ? for field data collection; and Vol II for the software. The field data collection manual describes the procedures to follow in collecting data using the standard field data sheets. Technicians collecting data in the field make use of the manual to determine the attributes to measure, precision required etc. The second manual is for experts using SWIMS to manage water sources data. The manual describes the different functions of the software, data entry, data management, report generation etc. By using SWIMS, government ministries and partners in the water sector in Somalia contribute in building a national database for the water sources in the country. Download Table of Contents, Report (PDF, 3.3MB)

W 07-Urban Water Supply Assessment:
SWALIM in collaboration with UNICEF carried out an assessment of the urban water supply in Somalia in 2006. The assessment was carried out in the cities of Borama, Bossasso and Ceerigabo and focused on technical information such as availability of strategic water sources and their status, water service providers, water quality and water consumers.
The socio-economic aspects focussed on consumers’ ability and willingness to connect and pay for water services and sustainability of water institutions. The information collected in the assessment forms a baseline which can be used for future monitoring of the urban water supply in Somalia towards meeting millennium development goal No. 7 target No.10 “to halve by 2015 the proportion of people without sustainable access to safe drinking water.

W 08-Rural Water Supply Assessment:
This report documents findings of an assessment carried out by SWALIM in three regions; Puntland, Somaliland and South-Central Somalia, to determine the situation of water supply in the rural areas of Somalia. The Somalia Water Sources Information Management System (SWIMS) national database was the main source of information to the study, alongside reports from previous studies and interviews with key partners in the water sector in Somalia. The report highlights the available water sources, technologies in use and water quality among others. The government authorities, donors and intervening agencies can make use of the report to determine priority intervention areas in meeting the demand for water in the rural areas of Somalia. Download Table of Contents, Report (PDF, 1.54MB)

W 09-Potential of Rainwater Harvesting in Somalia: A Planning, Design, Implementation and Monitoring Framework

The report documents the potentials of Rain Water Harvesting (RWH) technologies in Somalia, with a standard framework developed for RWH based on an assessment carried out by SWALIM and ICRAF. The assessment involved wide consultations with stakeholders from government ministries, UN Agencies and NGOs participating in fact finding missions and consultative workshops held in Puntland, Somaliland and South Somalia. The report is intended to act as a reference material for policy makers to prioritize and guide community, government and external support agencies on RWH investment options for increased domestic,
agricultural and livestock production. Download Table of Contents, Report (PDF 7 MB)

Water Report No. 10 W 10-Improving Flood Forecasting and Early Warning in Somalia
This report documents the technical options in the development of fl ood forecasting and early warning systems in Somalia. The technical options were
developed from an assessment carried out by SWALIM and USGS in Juba and Shabelle Rivers for river flow forecasting and Garowe and Hargeisa towns for flash flood early warning systems. When implemented, the flood forecasting and early warning system would go a long way in saving lives and property damage as a result of frequent floods in Somalia. Download Table of Contents, Report(PDF 2.9 MB)

W 11-Water Resources of Somalia
The report aims to assess the temporal and spatial variability of the available surface and groundwater resources, and its existing and potential uses. The assessment is based on the integration of hydrometeorological and physiographic data collected and analyzed by SWALIM and partner agencies. The report is intended to support integrated water resources management in Somalia that is based on coordinated development and management of water, land and related resources in order to maximize the resultant economic and social welfare. Download Table of Contents, Report(PDF 5.6 MB)

Water Report No. 12 W 12-Water Sources Inventory for Northern Somalia: SWALIM in collaboration with UNICEF carried out a survey of strategic point water sources in Northern Somalia in 2008. This report describes the methodology, challenges and outcomes of the survey. Over 1,600 sources were visited during the survey and for each source details were recorded on issues such as operational status, management and water quality. The annexes of the report contain 32 tailored district maps showing the location and functional status of the water sources. The Somali Government, donors, UN agencies and non-governmental organizations working in the water sector will find this report a very useful tool for planning interventions. Download Table of Contents, Report(PDF 7.2 MB)

W 13-Hydraulic Behaviour of the Juba and Shabelle Rivers: Water resources management of the Juba and Shabelle Rivers involves two major issues: flood management and irrigation water supply. This study was commissioned to determine the hydrology and hydraulics of the two rivers to support these issues. The general hydraulic characteristics of the two rivers were determined and, water availability and water balance at key locations were calculated. Furthermore, detailed analyses of the characteristics of the two river catchments and their hydrological and hydraulic features have been undertaken. A large set of information has been generated. Irrigation water requirements for general cropping patterns followed in the Juba and Shabelle river areas were derived. Using the information generated the off-take levels and the dimensions and profile of the canals can be analysed to derive the capacity of the canals and discharge diverted by these canals in various seasons. This can be used to calculate the water balance of the river at different locations. The results and information produced are useful for irrigation and river management policy makers and planners. Some of the information generated in this study will be incorporated in the atlas of the Juba and Shabelle River Atlas that SWALIM is preparing. Download Table of Contents, Report(PDF 4.4 MB)

Water Report No. 14 W 14-Analysis of the General Climatic Conditions of Somalia in Support of Drought Monitoring: Drought in the Horn of Africa is one of the most important, most frequent and often misinterpreted natural phenomena. The definition itself requires clarification. “Drought” is used to explain many different types of food shortage situations caused by rainfall deficit, crop disease, armed conflicts, market problems, or just by aridity. Because of the incorrect diagnosis the treatment may also be wrong. Most existing drought related indexes are single parameter indicators, not able to reflect the complex nature of the drought and very difficult to use in a data scarce environment, like the one in the Horn of Africa, especially in Somalia. This document takes initial steps to create a drought index combining rainfall, temperature and Normalised Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) characteristics and compares the actual situation with the multi-year average characteristics. Download Table of Contents, Report(PDF 6.9 MB) , Description of the SWALIM Combined Drought Index.

Water Report No. 15 W 15-Flood Risk and Response Management: Natural and man made fl oods disasters regularly lead to emergencies in Somalia, and in particular along the Juba and Shabelle Rivers in the southern part of the country. Their management requires usable and reliable information about produced scenarios and fl ood history. Flood risk and response management provides a range of measures for fl ood hazard mitigation, emergency preparedness; impact response and disaster recovery. This study is intended to provide the Somali interagency with an online information system consisting of data on historical fl oods, current fl ood situation and areas affected besides logistics data. The system also provides directions on effective coordination possibilities for fl ood risk and response mechanisms in order to provide assistance during fl ood emergencies and development to the local communities who are the victims of fl ood calamities. The major output of the study is an information system; the Flood Risk and Response Management Information System (FRRMIS). Report(PDF 3.4 MB)

Water Report No. 16 W 16-Somalia Flood Forecasting System: In response to the recurring fl oods in the riverine areas of the Jubaand Shabelle Rivers in southern Somalia, SWALIM started developing a flood forecasting system that is capable of advancing early warning information to the vulnerable communities in order to save lives and assets and mitigate the damage caused by fl oods. The fi rst step towards developing this system, involved testing several hydrological models to establish the most appropriate one for Somali conditions.
This report describes the data requirements, application and preliminary results obtained from the different hydrological models tested. The results and recommendations of this report form the basis for the development of a functional real time fl ood forecasting system which will be a key input to the emergency fl ood risk and response management system for Somalia. Report(PDF 3.4 MB)

Water Report No. 17 W 17-Water Sources Inventory for Central - South Somalia: After the successful completion of the northern Somalia strategic point water sources survey that was conducted in 2008, SWALIM in collaboration with UNICEF carried out a survey of the water sources in central - south Somalia. The findings and results of the survey are presented in this report. The total number of sources visited in the central - south regions is 645. Out of this, 125 are boreholes, 400 shallow wells, 17 springs and 103 are communal dams. The total number of strategic sources for the whole country is now 2,254 sources. The information and products generated and that are presented in this report include district maps showing the location, operational status, physical parameters, water quality and management of the source. Additional information on fact sheets for each of region surveyed could be obtained from SWALIM. Due to insecurity in some of the areas, some parts were not covered by the survey - these are mainly the regions of Hiraan, Middle Shabelle, Lower Shabelle and Lower Juba. The Somali Government, donors, UN agencies and non-governmental organizations working in the water sector will find the report a very useful tool for planning their future interventions .Download Table of Contents, Report(PDF 3.9 MB)

Water Report No. 18 W 18-Inventory of the Drainage Basins of Northern Somalia: The inventory of northern Somalia drainage basins provides a broad appreciation of the drainage basins with baseline information on administrative, physical environment, climate, water and land resources of the four major drainage basins in the region - Gulf of Aden, Darror, Tug Der/Nugal and Ogaden. Historical average climatological and hydrological data were used to create the information on water resources for the drainage basins, while physiographic data on terrain, soils, vegetation, etc. were used to generate the land resources information. The information and products generated are presented in the form of maps for each drainage basin. The document will be updated as more data is collected. Emergency, rehabilitation and development planners in northern Somalia will fi nd this a useful working document. Report(PDF 9.8MB)