Urbanization along with its impervious structures is the major challenge of urbanrncenters. The foundation and expansion of Addis Ababa was associated with the rapidrnconversion of land from rural to urban uses more than anywhere else in the country. Forrnthe last one hundred twenty years it has been noticed that there is an intensivernconversion of rural land to urban development such as buildings, transportationrnnetworks, recreation areas, reservoirs and others where most of them are impermeable.rnThis study has investigated the overall environmental challenges of the urban drainagernsystem. This study has particularly carried out in three sample kebeles (kebele 01/02,rn08/15 and 13/14) within Yeka sub-city. These kebeles were selected because of the factrnthat they are representative to address the objectives of this study. Deforestation andrnpavement of structures are the major problems in the study area. An exploratory andrnDescriptive type of research design methods were used to describe and explore thernexisting condition of the general urban drainage system and the natural water ways.rnData collection methods were carried out using both primary and secondary datarnsources. The secondary data source was only relevant to reinforce the primary data.rnThe collected data were analyzed with Ms-excel, AutoCAD and ArcGIS. The resultsrnhave been presented with known statistical tools. The findings of this study indicatedrnthat the major causes of flooding was found due to the deforestation of Yeka mountain,rninadequate integration between road and urban storm water drainage lines. Solid andrnliquid waste damping was also the biggest challenges on the general urban drainagernsystem. This study strongly recommends the implementation of the planned andrndesigned urban drainage. The use of porous structures like grassing on compounds andrnroad sides instead of pavements will contribute valuable advantages towards thernsustainable urban drainage management. Furthermore, the existing natural water waysrnor rivers had better provided with buffer zones to use them for various recreationrnpurposes and to keep the well being of residents. Besides, the Yeka Mountain shall bernvegetated with good conservation practices with a strong emphasis to fast growingrnindigenous trees which can replace the ever existing eucalyptus trees with itsrnallelophatic effect to other indigenous trees and shrubs.