Hydraulic Engineering Across the Water Cycle
Eng. Tamir Mitiku Habeteyes is a hydraulic and hydropower engineer, irrigation engineer, wastewater specialist and water-supply and sanitation professional with more than twenty-five years of experience in water-resources and infrastructure development.
His career spans irrigation planning and design, groundwater development, pumping and conveyance systems, urban water supply, sanitation and wastewater treatment, large-scale irrigated agriculture, construction supervision, project coordination and contract administration.
He holds an M.Sc. in Hydraulic and Hydropower Engineering and a B.Sc. in Irrigation Engineering and is registered in Ethiopia as a Practicing Professional Hydraulic and Hydropower Engineer.
Where Integrated Water Engineering Began
The HARE Irrigation Project Design Report marks an important beginning in Eng. Tamir's professional journey. In 1995, he joined Mesfin Hagos, Mitiku Bedru and Seid Shimelis in preparing the project as part of their engineering studies at the Arba Minch Water Technology Institute.
The work required the young engineers to address irrigation-water quality, crop-water requirements, hydrology, canal hydraulics, diversion structures and irrigation-infrastructure design, providing an early practical foundation for a career that would remain centred on water engineering.
From Small-Scale Irrigation to Urban Water Systems
Eng. Tamir began his professional career in 1996 as an Irrigation Engineer with the South Region Water Resources Development Bureau in Hadiya Zone, working on reconnaissance, planning and design of small-scale irrigation schemes, project management and technical support.
From 1999 to 2005, his responsibilities broadened when he became Water Supply and Sanitation Study and Design Team Leader. He carried out feasibility studies and designed pressure mains, distribution networks, pumping systems and hydraulic structures, while preparing cost estimates, specifications and tender documents.
He subsequently served as a Sanitary Engineer and later as Head of Construction Supervision and Registration, providing technical guidance and leading supervision of regional infrastructure, including water-supply and sanitation projects.
World Bank-Financed WSS, Wonji and Kwale
Between 2006 and 2008, Eng. Tamir worked with Legedara Water Supply and Sanitation Consultancy PLC on baseline assessments, dependable-water-source investigations, feasibility studies, detailed engineering design and business-plan preparation for water-supply and sanitation systems serving Areka, Worabe, Tercha, Masha and Bonga under World Bank-financed assignments.
At the Wonji Shoa Sugar Factory Agriculture Expansion Project, he served as Senior Hydraulic Engineer and later Head of the Civil Engineering Department, contributing to consultant and contractor selection, design review, implementation monitoring, construction supervision and quality control for an agricultural-development programme involving approximately 7,000 hectares.
From 2013 to 2015, he worked in Kenya as a Hydraulic Engineer on the Kwale International Sugar Project, involving approximately 5,000 hectares of sugarcane under subsurface drip irrigation. His responsibilities covered dams, day-storage reservoirs, boreholes, groundwater development, delivery pipelines, pumping systems, irrigation and drainage infrastructure and associated roads and structures.
Contracting, Coordination and Citywide Sanitation
Between 2015 and 2018, Eng. Tamir established and managed Tamir Mitiku Water Works and General Contractor. As General Manager, he handled bidding, contract negotiations, logistics, work planning, site implementation, quantity take-offs and payment certification.
From 2018 to 2023, he served as Project Coordinator for the Second Urban Water Supply and Sanitation Project in Debre Berhan, managing components covering water-supply and sanitation improvement, operational efficiency, services for low-income and previously unserved communities, institutional strengthening and project management.
His responsibilities included physical and financial planning, procurement, public and communal sanitation facilities, contract administration, stakeholder coordination and review of the Citywide Inclusive Sanitation Plan, wastewater-management system and Non-Revenue Water reduction and business-plan studies.
From Treatment Design to Commissioning and Operations
Since February 2024, Eng. Tamir's work has increasingly focused on advanced wastewater and fecal-sludge management with Metaferia Consulting Engineers PLC. On the Adigrat Town project, his work has covered sanitation baseline assessment, wastewater and fecal-sludge characterization, demand forecasting, technology and site selection, treatment-system design and staged sanitation interventions.
His more recent work also includes the Arba Minch Town Fecal Sludge Treatment Plant, where he has been responsible for detailed-design review and technical supervision covering civil, process, mechanical, pipeline, pumping, SCADA and electromechanical components.
His responsibilities extend through quality assurance, shop-drawing review, commissioning, process-performance testing, effluent-quality verification, operation and maintenance planning and training of utility personnel.
An Almost Complete Infrastructure Life Cycle
Across these assignments, Eng. Tamir has worked through almost the full life cycle of water infrastructure—from reconnaissance and feasibility studies to detailed design, procurement, construction, commissioning, operation and performance monitoring.
His career connects irrigation engineering with groundwater development, pumping and conveyance, urban water supply, large-scale agricultural water development, sanitation and wastewater management, while combining technical engineering with management and project-delivery responsibilities.
From Irrigation Design to the Complete Engineered Water Cycle
The HARE Irrigation Project holds a special place in Eng. Tamir's long professional journey. What began in 1995 as a graduation project involving river flow, canals, crop-water demand and hydraulic structures became the foundation of a career extending into irrigation development, urban water systems, major agricultural projects and advanced wastewater engineering.
More than three decades later, revisiting HARE brings together the young irrigation engineer who participated in its original design and the experienced hydraulic engineer and water professional he subsequently became.
His career demonstrates a sustained commitment to applying engineering knowledge to one fundamental purpose: the reliable, efficient and sustainable management of water for agriculture, communities and growing cities.
From source development and conveyance to irrigation, urban supply, sanitation and treatment, Tamir's career has progressively covered almost the complete engineered water cycle.