Past and Present Hydro Politics, Civlizations and Prospective Futures in the Zambezi River Basin

The paper raises issues in hydro politics and hydro political complexes,places this within the realm of political and social/human ecology and conceptually affirms the complex nature of the politics of river basin management.It then provides a few insights into some of the hydro political issues in the Zambezi River Basin(ZRB),shared by 8 countries,during the pre-colonial period,the colonial period,and the contemporary post-independence situations.The scenarios envisaged for the next several decades are then raised from policy and consultants' documents.Issues that have been enduring throughout the three periods are noted and assessed for their input into the future of the river basin.The major point of this paper is to illustrate the complex mosaic of actors,interests,intrigues that needs to be accounted for in considering river basin hydrology and the politics surrounding management of the interests around that hydrology.The problems of managing resources that are viewed as international within the confines of national interests are noted.National self-interest is noted to be only protected within the rubric of international and supranational consideration.The enduring impacts of history,especially the interests of indigenous people of the region are emphasized.As well,an enduring aspect of the political economy of the basin is that the society is largely a-grarian in nature.Hydro Politics of river basin management in the context of largely agrarian economies whose other natural endowments render it ripe for exploitation by outsiders needs to be better articulated.Hydro Politics in such contexts would be extremely limited and incomplete without recourse to the exploitation of the other natural resources.Research into the amalgam of issues raised here must be enhanced,very significantly.This paper in essence juxtaposes natural resource complexes and the issues around governance,distribution and redistribution of values and benefits to various actors and interests in ZRB.Water and river basin management is an intensely complex political subject within the purview of natural resource endowments.

Key Issues for Water Quality Monitoring in the Zambezi River Basin in Mozambique in the Context of Mining Development

Zambezi River Basin is located in Southern Africa. It is essential for the economy of its eight riparian countries. The delta and almost 11% of its total catchment area are located in Mozambique. The main stream of the river receives a run-off contribution of 1800 m3/s in Mozambique and reaches the ocean with a flow of about 4100 m3/s. Coal mining is developing fast in the Zambezi River Basin in Mozambique due to favourable geological conditions. The coal mining and other activities have an impact on the surface and groundwater quality of the river basin. ARA-Zambeze is the river basin organization responsible for the water quality monitoring in Zambezi River Basin in Mozambique. In spite of limited resources ARA-Zambeze performs surveillance monitoring, while the institutions influencing the water quality of the river are doing operational monitoring. In this paper a monitoring system for the Zambezi River Basin in Mozambique is proposed. The system includes two alternative monitoring procedures. One procedure considers improvement of the current situation, which is characterized by multiple actors doing monitoring in isolation, by standardizing the analytical methods and improving data sharing through a web-based reporting system. The other proposed monitoring procedure considers a centralized approach, by having a consulting company doing the monitoring for the whole river basin in Mozambique. The second option has the advantages of improving consistency and comparability of the data, thereby allowing for more accurate trend analyses. It is concluded that the best way forward is to implement the first procedure and slowly move to the second.

Analysis of River Tributaries’ Streamflow Contribution Using WEAP Model: A Case of the Ngwerere and Kanakatampa Tributaries to the Chongwe River in Zambia

Ngwerere and Kanakatampa Streams are the main tributaries of the Chongwe River. The Ngwerere stream originates from the city of Lusaka and meanders through Lusaka City and Chongwe Town for an approximate distance of 41 km before joining into the upper part of Chongwe River. The Kanakatampa Stream is a tributary of the Chongwe River. It meanders from the Kanakatampa Area for approximately 52 km before discharging into the middle of the upper part of the Chongwe River. The Chongwe River Catchment which is a sub-catchment of the Zambezi Basin drew the attention of researchers and policymakers when the Chongwe River started drying up in the dry seasons causing a water crisis particularly in the downstream regions of the middle catchment. Therefore, it is important from the water resources management perspective, to assess the contribution of tributaries into the flows of the Chongwe River. Ngwerere and Kanakatampa streams are socially, economically, and environmentally important streams for the city of Lusaka and surrounding area. This study, therefore, concentrated on evaluating the flow contribution of the two streams to the Chongwe River using the Water Evaluation And Planning (WEAP) tool. The streamflow data (1970-2010) recorded at the Chongwe Great East Road Bridge gauging station were used in the WEAP embedded Parameter ESTimation (PEST) auto-calibration tool to calibrate (1970-1999) and validate (2000-2010) the model. The monthly streamflow model calibration and validation results were assessed using the correlation coefficient (CC), Coefficient of determination (R2), Nash-Sutcliffe Coefficient of Efficiency (NSE), and Percent bias (PBIAS). The model performance results achieved were PBIAS of 1.24%, CC = 0.81, R2 = 0.66 and NSE = 0.62 during the calibration period and a positive PBIAS of 2.94%, CC = 0.81, R2 = 0.67 and NSE = 0.62 during the validation period. The median of the flows (Q50) was obtained from the historical flow duration curves (FDCs) generated in averaged intervals of 10-year from 1970 to 2019. The results showed that on average, the Ngwerere and Kanakatampa Streams contribute 52.8% and 29.6% respectively, to the flow of the Chongwe River in the upper and middle Catchment. The results also showed that the contribution of the Ngwerere and Kanakatampa Streams to the Chongwe River discharge has been reducing historically at a rate of 0.65% per decade and 1.35% per decade respectively over a period of 50 years (1970-2019). Suggestions for sustainable management of the tributaries such as the Ngwerere and Kanakatampa Streams were provided in this study.