A preliminary survey of the ecohydrological management challenges faced by Lake Gudera, Sekela woreda, West Gojjam, Ethiopia

Lake Gudera, a highland lake, is highly degraded by agricultural activity, but still serves the local community for irrigation and livestock watering. Preliminary investigations indicated chemical composition of NO3 (0.7 mg dm−3), turbidity (26 NTU) and conductivity (78 μs cm−1) with poor floristic and faunistic composition. The Community Elders explained that the wetland encroachment started in 1986/1987, was aggravated in 2002/2003 and now had resulted in 25% littoral zone macrophyte loss. Wetlands had been converted for agriculture, leaving reduced filtering capacity of the lake which impacted on the ecosystem services. Now there are growing calls for sustainable management for the various values and functions, involving different stakeholders to alleviate negatively impacting factors.