Guidelines on methodological approach to impact assessment of water access and quality on health in Blue Nile Basin (BNB)(EIWR University of Addis Ababa)

Among the multiple challenges The Blue Nile Basin (BNB) poses, figures boldly the impact of land use on the Water Quality. Consequently, the impact produced on human health as a result of water quality deterioration is a cause for high concern. Therefore, in anticipation of a sound methodology for the assessment of the change made to the state of water quality and the impact on public health produced by water quality deterioration, a team of experts of the Ethiopian Institute of water resources proposed the Integrated Analytical Framework (IAF).This tool innovatively integrates three well-known frameworks: The Driver-Pressure-State-Impact-Response framework; the Systems Approach Framework and the Social-Ecological Systems Framework. This methodological approach is envisaged to provide an interdisciplinary and broad platform for the investigation of the ecological dysfunction of the aquatic ecosystem in the basin, land use pattern that caused the water quality deterioration and the impact on public health. The methodology allows for large stakeholders engagement in identifying the issue of concern and collectively finding solutions for the problem through a series of consultative and deliberative workshops where scenario simulations are carried out.