Awash River
The
Awash (sometimes spelled
Hawash) is a major river of
Ethiopia. Its headwaters is south of
Mount Warqe, to the west of
Addis Ababa, from whence the Awash flows to the south and around Addis Ababa in an easterly then northeasterly direction, joined on its left bank by its chief affluent, the
Germama (or Kasam), and passing the
Awash National Park before entering the
Danakil depression, and eventually emptying in
Lake Abbe (or Abhe Bad) on the border with
Djibouti, some 100 kilometers (60 or 70 miles) from the head of the
Gulf of Tadjoura.
According to the
Statistical Abstract of Ethiopia for 1967/68, the Awash River is1200 kilometers long. In its middle portion, the Awash is a copious stream nearly 60 meters (200 feet) wide and 1.2 meters (4 feet) deep in the dry season, and during the floods rising 15 to 20 meters (50 or 60 feet) above low-water mark, thus inundating the plains for many miles along both its banks.
Other tributaries of the Awash include the Mila'e, Berkanna, Kabenna and Durkham Rivers.
The Awash has been historically important, serving as a de facto border between the predominantly
Christian peoples to the north, and the predominantly
Muslim peoples to the south into the late 16th century. The
Middle Awash has also been the site of numerous pre-human
hominid remains.
In
1960, the Koka Dam was completed across the Awash River at a point about 75 kilometers from Addis Ababa, and with its opening became a major source of
hydroelectric power in the area. The resulting freshwater lake, Lake Gelila, has an area of about 180 square kilometers. Both lake and dam are threatened by increasing
sedimentation.
* Zewdu Tememew Molla, "Dam Safety Evaluation on Koka Dam, Ethiopia". M.Sc. thesis, 2005.
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