Groundwater Evaluationof The Wukro-genfel Sub-basin Tigray Northern Ethiopia

The Wukro-genfel-sub-basin is found in Tigray Region at distance of 829 Km fromrnAddis Ababa. Geographically, it is located in 130 55’’ 00’N_130 42’’ 50’N and 390 31’’rn00’E _390 40’’ 34’ E. The climate is classified as temperate (weinadega) with an altitudernof 1900-2700m m.a.s.l. and annual mean weighted rain fall and temperature of 584mmrnand 18.8 c0 respectively. The annual Actual and potential evapotranspiration are also 546rnmm and 1392mm respectively. The average annual recharge of the area is estimatedrn33.25 mm.rnThe area is dominated by Mekelle outlier sediments in the central and south and lowrngrade metamorphic rock in the north and east which are highly affected by faults andrnlineaments. The characteristic aquifer of the area is fractured confined aquifer andrnmultilayered semi-confined aquifers. The hydraulic conductivity are variable with in veryrnshort distances that indicates there is very weak hydraulic relation among the formationsrnlaterally. The hydraulic conductivity of the area is higher in the central and southern partrnthat ranges from 3.14 m/d and 11.87m/d respectively.rnThe hydrochemical analysis showed that the dominant water type are both Mg-Ca- HCO3rnand Ca-Mg-HCO3 that varies from site to site that indicates the formation is dominatedrnby Ca and Mg-carbonate rich minerals or rocks /such as limestone and dolomite richrnslates .But far to the southern part of the area where shale is dominating and also in Deeprnwell in the limestone areas Ca-Mg-SO4-Cl type water is observed. Therefore, thernhydrochemical is controlled more by geological formation than groundwater flowrninteraction with rocks.rnThe water from wells in the limestone is very hard to bad class (2214 mg/l ) TDS andrnalso the salinity ranges from medium to very hazardous range for plant growth .

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