Gereb Shegal is a

reservoir A reservoir (; from French ''réservoir'' ) is an enlarged lake behind a dam. Such a dam may be either artificial, built to store fresh water or it may be a natural formation. Reservoirs can be created in a number of ways, including contro ...

located in the Inderta ''woreda'' of the

Tigray Region The Tigray Region, officially the Tigray National Regional State, is the northernmost regional state in Ethiopia. The Tigray Region is the homeland of the Tigrayan, Irob, and Kunama people. Its capital and largest city is Mekelle. Tigray is ...

Ethiopia Ethiopia, , om, Itiyoophiyaa, so, Itoobiya, ti, ኢትዮጵያ, Ítiyop'iya, aa, Itiyoppiya officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country in the Horn of Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the ...

. The

earthen dam An embankment dam is a large artificial dam. It is typically created by the placement and compaction of a complex semi-plastic mound of various compositions of soil or rock. It has a semi-pervious waterproof natural covering for its surface and ...

that holds the reservoir was built in 1998 by

SAERT Sustainable Agriculture and Environmental Rehabilitation in Tigray (SAERT) was a parastatal organisation in the Tigray Region of Ethiopia. It was established in 1995 for "policymaking, design and construction of dams and canals, and the maintenanc ...

Dam characteristics

* Dam height: 20 metres * Dam crest length: 363 metres

Capacity

* Original capacity: 1000000 m³ * Reservoir area: 17.1 ha

Irrigation

* Designed irrigated area: 52 ha * Actual irrigated area in 2002: 14 ha

Environment

The

catchment A drainage basin is an area of land where all flowing surface water converges to a single point, such as a river mouth, or flows into another body of water, such as a lake or ocean. A basin is separated from adjacent basins by a perimeter, the ...

of the reservoir is 8.67 km² large, with a perimeter of 12.12 km and a length of 4320 metres. The reservoir suffers from rapid

siltation Siltation, is water pollution caused by particulate terrestrial clastic material, with a particle size dominated by silt or clay. It refers both to the increased concentration of suspended sediments and to the increased accumulation (temporary or ...

. The lithology of the catchment is Mekelle Dolerite and

Antalo Limestone The Antalo Limestone, also known as the Antalo Sequence, is a geological formation in Ethiopia. It is between 300 and 800 metres thick and comprises fossiliferous limestones and marls that were deposited in a reef. Marine microfossils have shown a ...

. Part of the water that could be used for irrigation is lost through

seepage Soil mechanics is a branch of soil physics and applied mechanics that describes the behavior of soils. It differs from fluid mechanics and solid mechanics in the sense that soils consist of a heterogeneous mixture of fluids (usually air and wat ...

; the positive side-effect is that this contributes to

groundwater recharge Groundwater recharge or deep drainage or deep percolation is a hydrologic process, where water moves downward from surface water to groundwater. Recharge is the primary method through which water enters an aquifer. This process usually occurs in ...

References

{{reflist Reservoirs in Ethiopia 1998 establishments in Ethiopia Tigray Region Agriculture in Ethiopia Water in Ethiopia