Abstract:
The benefit derived from the creation of man-made lakes in Ethiopia and other developing
countries is usually associated with great risks. The fluctuation in areal extent of reservoir is one
of the most common natural processes that affect socio-economic condition of the communities
around the shorelines of the reservoir. This research has been conducted to assess the impact of
fluctuation in areal extent of Ficha reservoir on the socioeconomic aspects of the surrounding
community. The parameters are land use land cover, reservoir cover, socio-economic conditions
in relation to fluctuations in areal extent of the reservoir. GIS softwares were used in this study
to; classify and detect LULC of the study area using maximum likelihood and LULC change
using pair matrix respectively and Delineate water surface area by digitizing and extract using
raster clip tool through the use of single band (Band 7). House hold survey was undertaken to
analysis socio-economic impacts. Results from fluctuation in areal extent analysis shows, a
decrease in the areal extent of Ficha reservoir from 57.3 % in 1996 to 43.3 % in 2012 from the
total area of the study area. From 1996 to 2012 grassland and agricultural land were increased.
Besides from 2012 to 2016 the grassland and agricultural land decreased. The forest coverage
increased from 1996 to 2012 and decreased from 2012 to 2016. On the contrary, areal extent of
Ficha reservoir increased from 43.3 % in 2012 to 46 % in 2016. The settlement land cover
increased from 1996 to 2012 by 0.06% and also increased from 2012 to 2016 by 0.04%.
Generally, despite the significance of the Ficha reservoir, based on the household survey of
selected representative samples it has been found that the fluctuation in areal extent of Ficha
reservoir has an adverse impact on the socio-economic condition of the nearby community.
Thus, an appropriate mitigation measures are necessary.
