Actualité

𝐈𝐧 𝐄𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐨𝐩𝐢𝐚, 𝐟𝐚𝐜𝐞𝐝 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐦𝐚𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐩𝐮𝐦𝐩𝐢𝐧𝐠, 𝐋𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐃𝐞𝐦𝐛𝐞𝐥 𝐢𝐬 𝐬𝐥𝐨𝐰𝐥𝐲 𝐝𝐲𝐢𝐧𝐠.

In Ethiopia, faced with massive pumping, Lake Dembel is slowly dying.

Ziway, Ethiopia

Sunday, July 06, 2025

All around Lake Dembel, 120 kilometers from Addis Ababa, there’s a constant sound: that of generators connected to pumps that are gradually sucking up its water, threatening to dry it out, illustrating the shortcomings in Ethiopia’s management of this precious resource.

A group of fishermen sell fish along the shores of Lake Dembel, one of the lakes in Ethiopias Central Rift Valley long affected by overuse and pollution, in Batu on May 22, 2025. There is a constant hum around Ethiopia’s enormous Lake Dembel, it is the sound of its water steadily being sucked out by pumps. The lake’s depth has halved since 1990 from four metres to two, according to Wetlands International, an NGO. Heavy pesticide use in farms surrounding Lake Dembel is poisoning the water that remains while the lake’s many fishermen are also affected. (Photo by Marco Simoncelli / AFP)

Farmer Habib Bobaso, 35, sprays pesticide on his onion field located along the shores of Lake Dembel, one of the lakes in Ethiopias Central Rift Valley long affected by overuse and pollution, in Batu on May 20, 2025. There is a constant hum around Ethiopia’s enormous Lake Dembel, it is the sound of its water steadily being sucked out by pumps. The lake’s depth has halved since 1990 from four metres to two, according to Wetlands International, an NGO. Heavy pesticide use in farms surrounding Lake Dembel is poisoning the water that remains while the lake’s many fishermen are also affected. (Photo by Marco Simoncelli / AFP)

These whirring pumps irrigate thousands of agricultural plots that feed hundreds of thousands of people around the vast 255 km2 lake. By drawing too much water, however, they are putting their own survival at risk.

“If things continue as they are, the lake could, in the long term, disappear”, its depth having dropped to “around 2 meters”, compared with an average of 4 in 1990, worries Desalegn Regassa, an executive with Wetlands International, an NGO campaigning for the preservation of the environment.

A fisherman carefully slices freshly caught fish on the shores of Lake Dembel, one of the lakes in Ethiopias Central Rift Valley long affected by overuse and pollution, in Batu on May 21, 2025. There is a constant hum around Ethiopia’s enormous Lake Dembel, it is the sound of its water steadily being sucked out by pumps. The lake’s depth has halved since 1990 from four metres to two, according to Wetlands International, an NGO. Heavy pesticide use in farms surrounding Lake Dembel is poisoning the water that remains while the lake’s many fishermen are also affected. (Photo by Marco Simoncelli / AFP)

A boy cleans a pile of freshly caught fish on the shores of Lake Dembel, one of the lakes in Ethiopias Central Rift Valley long affected by overuse and pollution, in Batu on May 21, 2025. There is a constant hum around Ethiopia’s enormous Lake Dembel, it is the sound of its water steadily being sucked out by pumps. The lake’s depth has halved since 1990 from four metres to two, according to Wetlands International, an NGO. Heavy pesticide use in farms surrounding Lake Dembel is poisoning the water that remains while the lake’s many fishermen are also affected. (Photo by Marco Simoncelli / AFP)

A thin layer of foam forms on the surface of the water along the shores of Lake Dembel, one of Ethiopias Central Rift Valley lakes long affected by overuse and pollution, in Batu on May 20, 2025. There is a constant hum around Ethiopia’s enormous Lake Dembel, it is the sound of its water steadily being sucked out by pumps. The lake’s depth has halved since 1990 from four metres to two, according to Wetlands International, an NGO. Heavy pesticide use in farms surrounding Lake Dembel is poisoning the water that remains while the lake’s many fishermen are also affected. (Photo by Marco Simoncelli / AFP)

Boys push their canoes with poles as they gather tall grass growing along the shores of Lake Dembel, one of Ethiopias Central Rift Valley lakes long affected by overuse and pollution, in Batu on May 20, 2025. There is a constant hum around Ethiopia’s enormous Lake Dembel, it is the sound of its water steadily being sucked out by pumps. The lake’s depth has halved since 1990 from four metres to two, according to Wetlands International, an NGO. Heavy pesticide use in farms surrounding Lake Dembel is poisoning the water that remains while the lake’s many fishermen are also affected. (Photo by Marco Simoncelli / AFP)

The pumps are running “24 hours a day”, without any regulation, notes a dejected Desalegn. “Last year, we counted 6,000, and there could be more today,” he saddens.

During the visit, two huge tanker trucks also came to fill their tanks for a nearby freeway project.

A bucket filled with freshly caught fish sits on the shores of Lake Dembel, one of Ethiopias Central Rift Valley lakes long affected by overuse and pollution, in Batu on May 20, 2025. There is a constant hum around Ethiopia’s enormous Lake Dembel, it is the sound of its water steadily being sucked out by pumps. The lake’s depth has halved since 1990 from four metres to two, according to Wetlands International, an NGO. Heavy pesticide use in farms surrounding Lake Dembel is poisoning the water that remains while the lake’s many fishermen are also affected. (Photo by Marco Simoncelli / AFP)

Boys play and fish on the trunk of a massive fallen tree along the shores of Lake Dembel, one of the lakes in Ethiopias Central Rift Valley long affected by overuse and pollution, in Batu on May 20, 2025. There is a constant hum around Ethiopia’s enormous Lake Dembel, it is the sound of its water steadily being sucked out by pumps. The lake’s depth has halved since 1990 from four metres to two, according to Wetlands International, an NGO. Heavy pesticide use in farms surrounding Lake Dembel is poisoning the water that remains while the lake’s many fishermen are also affected. (Photo by Marco Simoncelli / AFP)

Local environmental officer Alemayehu Wondimu poses for a photo on the shores of Lake Dembel, one of Ethiopias Central Rift Valley lakes long affected by overuse and pollution, in Batu on May 20, 2025. There is a constant hum around Ethiopia’s enormous Lake Dembel, it is the sound of its water steadily being sucked out by pumps. The lake’s depth has halved since 1990 from four metres to two, according to Wetlands International, an NGO. Heavy pesticide use in farms surrounding Lake Dembel is poisoning the water that remains while the lake’s many fishermen are also affected. (Photo by Marco Simoncelli / AFP)

A worker stands near a generator pumping thousands of liters of water from Lake Dembel into a large tanker truck for a Chinese construction company, in Batu on May 21, 2025. There is a constant hum around Ethiopia’s enormous Lake Dembel, it is the sound of its water steadily being sucked out by pumps. The lake’s depth has halved since 1990 from four metres to two, according to Wetlands International, an NGO. Heavy pesticide use in farms surrounding Lake Dembel is poisoning the water that remains while the lake’s many fishermen are also affected. (Photo by Marco Simoncelli / AFP)

Good water management is essential for Ethiopia, an East African giant with a population of around 130 million, which is experiencing strong demographic growth.

Despite fairly abundant rainfall in the center and east of the country, some regions, notably in the southwest where the majority of Ethiopia’s population lives, are regularly affected by droughts.
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“Ethiopia’s water challenges have been aggravated by poor political leadership” and “inefficient institutional arrangements” for resource management, points out the Stockholm International Water Institute.
This Swedish NGO working on water governance, which has been active in the country for years, points to “flagrant examples of failure” in this area, including the disappearance of Lake Alemaya (500 km east of Addis Ababa) due to excessive pumping.
While agriculture is gradually drying out Lake Dembel, it is also responsible for the deterioration in water quality, due to the use of chemicals.
A few dozen meters from the lake, Habib Bobasso fills a sprayer which he then puts on his back. The 35-year-old farmer operates a small pump before spraying pesticides liberally over his small onion plot. A pungent smell emanates.
“There are a lot of worms that can damage the plants,” justifies the man with the fine moustache, who wears no gloves apart from a shawl that hides his nose. Without chemicals, “we could lose the whole harvest”, he asserts.

Farmer Shega Damene, 45, (R) shows to her relative the compost she uses as a substitute for chemical fertilizers that contribute to the pollution of Lake Dembel, one of Ethiopias Central Rift Valley lakes long affected by overuse and pollution, in Batu on May 21, 2025. There is a constant hum around Ethiopia’s enormous Lake Dembel, it is the sound of its water steadily being sucked out by pumps. The lake’s depth has halved since 1990 from four metres to two, according to Wetlands International, an NGO. Heavy pesticide use in farms surrounding Lake Dembel is poisoning the water that remains while the lake’s many fishermen are also affected. (Photo by Marco Simoncelli / AFP)

A man works fixing the pipe connected to a generator that pumps water from Lake Dembel to one of the many cultivated fields along its shores in Batu on May 20, 2025. There is a constant hum around Ethiopia’s enormous Lake Dembel, it is the sound of its water steadily being sucked out by pumps. The lake’s depth has halved since 1990 from four metres to two, according to Wetlands International, an NGO. Heavy pesticide use in farms surrounding Lake Dembel is poisoning the water that remains while the lake’s many fishermen are also affected. (Photo by Marco Simoncelli / AFP)

A group of boys watch with curiosity as hippos approach the shores of Lake Dembel, one of Ethiopias Central Rift Valley lakes long affected by overuse and pollution, in Batu on May 22, 2025. There is a constant hum around Ethiopia’s enormous Lake Dembel, it is the sound of its water steadily being sucked out by pumps. The lake’s depth has halved since 1990 from four metres to two, according to Wetlands International, an NGO. Heavy pesticide use in farms surrounding Lake Dembel is poisoning the water that remains while the lake’s many fishermen are also affected. (Photo by Marco Simoncelli / AFP)

Fishermen unload a crate of freshly caught fish from Lake Dembel, one of the lakes in Ethiopias Central Rift Valley long affected by overuse and pollution, in Batu on May 21, 2025. There is a constant hum around Ethiopia’s enormous Lake Dembel, it is the sound of its water steadily being sucked out by pumps. The lake’s depth has halved since 1990 from four metres to two, according to Wetlands International, an NGO. Heavy pesticide use in farms surrounding Lake Dembel is poisoning the water that remains while the lake’s many fishermen are also affected. (Photo by Marco Simoncelli / AFP)

But Mr. Habib acknowledges that pesticides and fertilizers are “detrimental to both humans and the lake”.
They also “degrade the soil. Today, the quality of our harvest is not the same as in previous years” and yields are “low”, he regrets.
– Extremely rich fauna –
The degradation of the environment is also affecting fishermen, who are seeing a decline in fish stocks.
At dawn, Belachew Derib climbs into his small boat and paddles several hundred meters to haul in his nets.
And every day, his observation is the same. Over the past thirty years, due to the “growing number of activities on the banks” and population growth, catches have been declining, observes this 60-year-old fisherman, cap screwed on his head, who has been fishing since 1988.
“We used to be able to catch 20 to 30 fish a day. Nowadays, young fishermen are lucky enough to catch two or three,” laments the 60-year-old, for whom the lake has enabled him to “earn (his) living all these years”, “build (his) house” and “provide for his three children”.
Faced with this situation, the federal authorities are trying to react. A law was passed in the Ethiopian parliament in May to charge for water extraction, and has yet to be implemented.

“The aim is to ensure that all users pay for water resources, that they use them responsibly,” explains Andualem Gezahegne, in charge of the Rift Valley Basin administration in Batu, a large town near the lake.
Every morning, before the doldrums set in, many fishermen row out onto the lake to haul in their nets, amid an extremely rich fauna, where hippos cohabit with ducks and marabouts, large birds.
And always, constantly, the sound of pumps.

Humaniterre with AFP