Dr Behailu Birhanu Wolde is an assistant professor of hydrogeology based at School of Earth Sciences, Addis Ababa University, Ethiopia. He obtained is PhD and Master's degrees in Hydrogeology at Addis Ababa University and his BSc in Geology at Addis Ababa University. Since 2018, he has been working as an African Fellow in Groundwater Management with Addis Ababa University (AAU) and the University of Oxford under the REACH (water security for the poor) program. He is also an Affiliate Member of the African Academy of Sciences (AAS). Dr Wolde has advised several students and delivered courses (Principles of Hydrogeology, Groundwater Flow and Contaminant Transport Modeling, Groundwater Pollution and Remediation, Integrated Water Resource Management, and Engineering Hydrology) in different universities in Ethiopia. In the course of his stay in the academic environments, he has also conducted researches on surface and groundwater modeling, integrated water management, environmental impact assessment, and geographic system analysis. Recently, he has tested a data-intensive methodological approach on dynamic integration of surface and groundwater systems by using Water Evaluation and Planning (WEAP) and three-dimensional groundwater flow (MODFLOW) models. The methodology was applied to evaluate water supply sources of Addis Ababa city, in which impacts of natural (climate change/variability) and anthropogenic stresses (population, water supply expansion schemes) have been evaluated.
Dr Wolde has years of experience in operating and maintaining Los Gatos LWIA series lasers-stable water isotope analyzer and in-situ measuring hydrogeological devices (i.e., RAD7 RADON DETECTOR, DelAgua Bacteriological portable water testing laboratory Kit, and In-situ Hydraulic conductivity measuring Guelph Permeameter). He has served as Head of the School of Natural Resources and Environmental Studies at Hawassa University, Dean of the School of Earth Sciences and Engineering at Addis Ababa Science and Technology University, GIS unit coordinator at Geological Survey of Ethiopia, Project Manager at Hawassa Lake pollution and Policy Issues, and Dean College of Applied Sciences at Addis Ababa Science and Technology University.
As a team leader, researcher, and consultant, he had a chance to be part of national and international level tasks namely: Grofutures international consortium project on shallow groundwater investigation to improve the livelihood of small scale farmers, funded by Department for International Development (DIFID); evaluation of water resources pollution and environmental policy issues, funded by SOS Sahle; boosting integrated rural water development, funded by Austrian Red Cross; Upper Erer River Alluvial Plan groundwater flow modeling funded by Harari Water Bureau and Ayisha area groundwater potential investigation funded by Industrial Parks Agency.
