METHODS FOR TRANSBOUNDARY WATER RESOURCES MANAGEMENT IN WATER STRESSED REGIONS – CASE STUDY: SOUTHERN AFRICA

Water resources management in water scarce regions like the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) is challenging with both large hydro-climatic-induced scarcity and the considerable inter-annual fluctuations at the centre of the allocation problem. Water must be allocated both in time and space using acceptable criteria and most importantly, all stakeholders must adhere to the decisions imposed by water sharing agreements. The SADC region is special in that most of its land territory (70%) falls within a designated international river basin area, creating considerable interdependences between states. For this reason, a regional framework, the SADC protocol on shared watercourses, was put in place that will guide integrated water resources development of the region. Developing water resources of the region is seen as a central element for setting the regional economy in motion. Over the past 15 years, a policy and institutional water management framework has been developed. However, materialization of the Policy and principles involved has been faced with difficulties. This research includes an analysis of water resources management in the SADC region with the view to contribute to sound transboundary water resources management which is technically accepted by all stakeholders and addresses the issues of fair and equitable water allocation. The research aimed at evaluating the role that knowledge and information has played in the progress achieved to date and to testing different methods that can assist to speed up the process. Water allocation and transparency in water resources modelling of transboundary rivers were assessed using tools that ranged from fully open sources to more complex and less transparent type of model. These models were analysed with respect to trust building for reaching water-sharing agreements. The problems related to poor integration of water quality issues in water agreement has also been investigated leading to a proposal for simple method that can enable better cooperation between riparian countries. The main conclusion of this study is that transparency, stakeholder involvement and simple methods can contribute to fast implementation of integrated water resource management in water stressed regions like SADC. In addition, Institutions should be designed to match the geographical area defined by the biophysical problem they are supposed to address

Application of a district management approach to Southern African river basin systems: the case of the Umbeluzi, Incomati and Maputo river basins

In recent years, the 'river basin as a management unit' approach has been adopted as a solution to water management. The situation between Swaziland, Mozambique and South Africa regarding managing the water resources of the Incomati, Maputo, and Umbeluzi shared river basins is an interesting case that might need a different approach. These rivers flow downstream to the Maputo estuary where their waters are needed for urban water supply (Maputo city) and fresh water pulses for the estuary. The Incomati and Umbeluzi are heavily committed upstream while the Maputo appears still to have a relative abundance of untapped water resources. At basin level, the three countries fail to reach a consensus on the best strategies to accommodate multiple demands, particularly in the downstream area. The IncoMaputo agreement that was concluded by the three governments is unique in that it comprises two basins (Maputo and Incomati), allowing a multi-basin approach to the problem. However, the Umbeluzi was left out of the agreement. This paper discusses the possible benefits of a multi-basin approach to water resources for the three rivers discharging into Espirito Santo Estuary in Maputo. Using the provisions set out in the European Union Water Framework Directive (WFD) it is found that the three rivers of this study may well be suitable for implementing the District Water Management approach as proposed in the WFD

Disentangling Sources of Future Uncertainties for Water Management in Sub-Saharan River Basins

Water management in sub-Saharan African river basins is challenged by an uncertain future climatic, social and economical patterns potentially causing diverging water demands and availability, and by multi-stakeholder dynamics, resulting in evolving conflicts and tradeoffs. In such contexts, a better understanding of the sensitivity of water management to the different sources of uncertainty can support policymakers in identifying robust water supply policies balancing optimality and low vulnerability against likely adverse future conditions. This paper contributes an integrated decision-analytic framework combining an optimization, robustness, sensitivity, and uncertainty analysis to retrieve the main sources of vulnerability to optimal and robust reservoir operating policies across multi-dimensional objective spaces. We demonstrate our approach on the lower Umbeluzi river basin, Mozambique, which an archetypal example of sub-Saharan river basin, where surface water scarcity compounded by substantial climatic variability, uncontrolled urbanization rate, and agricultural expansion are hampering the Pequenos Libombos dam's ability to supply the agricultural, energy, and urban sectors. We adopt an Evolutionary Multi-Objective Direct Policy Search (EMODPS) optimization approach for designing optimal operating policies, whose robustness against social, agricultural, infrastructural, and climatic uncertainties is assessed via robustness analysis. We then implement the generalized likelihood uncertainty estimation (GLUE) and PAWN uncertainty and sensitivity analysis methods for disentangling the main challenges to the sustainability of the operating policies and quantifying their impacts on the urban, agricultural, and energy sectors. Numerical results highlight the importance of a robustness analysis when dealing with uncertain scenarios, with optimal non-robust reservoir operating policies largely being dominated by robust control strategies across all stakeholders. Furthermore, while robust policies are usually vulnerable only to hydrological perturbations and are able to sustain the majority of population growth and agricultural expansion scenarios, non-robust policies are sensitive also to social and agricultural changes and require structural interventions to ensure stable supply.ISSN:1027-5606ISSN:1607-793

Hydro Power Potential in Mozambique "CHUA- MANICA"

Hydropower energy is one of most promising clean energy technologies, however this energy technologies has many challenges if compere other renewable energy for example Biomass, solar, wind energy, has high capital investment cost. In Mozambique, access to conversional energy in form of electricity has been limited to most of the rural population. The objective of this investigation research is to analyze the Chua Micro-Hydropower Plant exploration in Manica district in Mozambique and to examine the possibility of increasing energy production. The current total installed power generation capacity in Mozambique is about 939MW. Hydropower contributes 561 MW, making a contribution of 61%, oil contributes 27%, and natural gas 12% of the total electric grid generation in Mozambique (C) 2015 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd

Water services with independent providers in peri-urban Maputo: Challenges and opportunities for long-term development

Water service delivery to most residents of peri-urban areas of greater Maputo depends largely on alternative service providers. mostly in the form of small-scale independent providers (SSIPs). This paper discusses the present and long-term challenges facing SSIPs in supplying quality water of sufficient quantity in peri-Urban Maputo and possible human health risks associated with the consumption of water provided by SSIPs. Extensive water sampling and analyses were conducted to evaluate the physicochemical and bacteriological quality of water provided by independent providers and the associated human health risks. Borehole pumping tests, the results of which were interpreted using the graphical method of Jacob, were used to evaluate the regional aquifer potential, the long-term impacts of its exploitation and the aquifer Vulnerability to external contamination. From the results of bore hole pumping tests it was concluded that the present yields are in average 33% lower than estimated safe yields and that larger than present yields therefore can be exploited. The aquifer Vulnerability to external contamination (e.g. by E. coli and nitrates) is low, mainly because of low hydraulic loads and the existence of a rather thick (10 to 30 m) sandy unsaturated stratum where bacteria die-off and biological denitrification probably Occurs. However, the aquifer vulnerability to sea sea-water intrusion is high. Currently, the health risks posed to Consumers relying on services provided by SSIPs are small; even so, 13 out of 35 controlled boreholes had either total coliform or faecal coli form levels higher than the WHO standard. In the long run SSIPs may face more serious water quality problems due either to over-exploitation of the aquifer system or increased hydraulic loads resulting from increased Population density

Rising Climate Risk and Loss and Damage to Coastal Subsistence-oriented Livelihoods

Subsistence-oriented communities in tropical coastal areas face the greatest threat from climate change, with consequences manifesting through diminishing returns from small-scale fishing and farming ventures. The complementary climate, sustainable development, and biodiversity conservation policies target reducing climate risks, but effective policy outcomes depend on a thorough understanding of system-wide climate risk, community adaptation potential and gaps, and possible economic losses. Using four countries in the Western Indian Ocean (WIO) region as a case, we present a framework for quantifying climate risk to subsistence-oriented coastal communities. On average, economic losses of ecosystem services are predicted to increase with increasing climate risk, with annual losses of up to 23% and 32% of total economic value (~ US$ 516,828,468/year) under SSP2-4.5 and SSP5-8.5 scenarios by 2050, respectively. A comprehensive assessment of climate risks, ecosystem service value and cost of climate inaction can inform policy actions aimed at adapting, mitigating, and compensating for the loss and damage caused by climate change