18 Feb 2020

Just like any part of the world, the southern part of Africa has not been spared by the debilitating effects of climate change.

There are many challenges in the region, owing to the effects of climate change. Rainfall patterns in the region have become variable, impacting on its reliability and disasters associated with floods and droughts. 

There is also widespread poverty in the region with millions of citizens not having access to adequate water for everyday basic human needs.

All these suggests an important role for regional cooperation on the development and management of water resources.

Water resource management is one of the greatest global challenges of the 21st century. 

Water is a critical factor to the integrated and cooperative socioeconomic development of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) region. 

Without any shadow of doubt the coordinated, sustainable and integrated development and management of the region’s water resources will contribute to SADC’s goal for an integrated regional economy, built on the basis of mutual benefit for all member states.

Several strategies for achieving regional cooperation in the management of water resources have been devised. 

SADC, as an organisation, promotes integrated development and management of shared watercourses and its member states have made some notable successes to mitigate water shortages and ensure sustenance of potable water supply. 

Water resource management has always been a priority for SADC.

Cooperation on water resources was mentioned in the founding documents of SADCC, precursor to SADC. 

The SADC Protocol on Shared Water Courses Systems of 1995, was the first technical SADC protocol adopted after the establishment of entity in 1992. It was revised in 2000.

Despite achieving significant economic growth in recent years, millions of citizens in this part of Africa had been struggling to have access to potable water.

In Botswana, 80 percent of the national development budget had been set aside mainly to support initiatives geared towards improvement of water supply and management. 

In other words, water projects account for P1.90 billion of the Ministry of Land, Water and Sanitation Services budget allocations.

Quizzed on what measures were in place to manage the country’s limited water resources, Water Utilities Corporation (WUC) spokesperson, Ms Beauty Mokoba, said central to the management of the Botswana’s limited water resources, was the National Water Policy of 2016. 

The policy spells out in succinct detail, prioritisation of water uses in the country, giving water for domestic use priority, followed by water for Environment and then Industry.

She said some of the success stories in Botswana to mitigate water supply challenges was the increased storage through construction of new dams such as Dikgatlhong, Lotsane and Thune. 

She said there was also the borehole rehabilitation programme, which was ongoing countrywide, to resuscitate collapsed boreholes or those with declined yield and bring them into operation.

Development of Masama East and West was also earmarked to provide a strategic resource for injection into the North South Carrier (NSC). 

NSC 1 has been extended beyond Mmamashia and can supply as far as Kanye, while NSC II (Palapye to Mmamashia) is currently at tender stage.

Ms Mokoba said with the connection of the NSC to Kanye, there had been improvement in supply to Kanye and Molepolole.

While Molepolole had not been directly connected to the NSC, the water from Gaotlhobogwe wellfields, which supplies the village, was shared with Thamaga. 

She explained that with connection to the NSC, Thamaga village had been weaned off supply from Gaotlhobogwe wellfields, thereby making this water (3 million litres per day) available for supply to Molepolole. 

Similarly, Moshupa village, which relied solely from supply through Kanye village, has been weaned off from this supply, making additional water 4ml/day available to supply to Kanye conjunctively with the NSC.

Molepolole and Kanye villages have high water losses and she said plans were afoot to reduce them through network rehabilitation and pressure management. 

For other villages such as Maun, a new project was initiated in December 2019, which would increase the available water supply for the village and also improve the integrity of the network infrastructure.

Ms Mokoba explained that under the auspices of the SADC Protocol on Shared Water Courses (2000), Botswana was a member of four water commissions being the Limpopo River Basin Commission (LIMCOM), Okavango Permanent River Basin Commission (OKACOM), Orange-Senque River Basin Commission (ORASECOM) and the Zambezi River Basin Commission (ZAMCOM).

She said it was through these basin commissions that Botswana had negotiated for the use of water from Zambezi (Chobe Zambezi scheme) and Orange-Senqu (Lesotho highlands). 

The implementation of these projects was at different stages, as these required long and protracted negotiations with other riparian states for access to the waters.

She said Botswana continued to receive water through the Orange-Senqu for supply to Middlepits Cluster and through the TSWASA (bilateral agreement between RSA and Botswana) for supply to greater Gaborone.

There had also been successful negotiation for the use of shared water resources with other riparian states.

The Minister of Lands, Water and Sanitation Services, Mr Kefentse Mzwinila has recently announced that government of Botswana had secured a World Bank loan worth US$145 million to improve water supply in some areas.

He explained that the money would also be used to increase efficiency of WUC and strengthen wastewater management in selected systems.

Efforts to manage water resources is an ongoing project throughout the region.

South Africa faces a growing gap between water supply and demand. 

The demands of agriculture, power generation, mining activities, large and growing urban centres among others, are putting a strain on the existing water supplies in the country. 

According to the department of water affairs in South Africa, all these accounted for majority of overall demand and an estimated demand for water is projected to reach close to 18 billion cubic metres in 2030. 

Government in South Africa was developing cost effective measures to close the gap between supply and demand. 

It encourages more productive water usage and much focus was placed on water management areas. 

The government is currently in partnership with the private sector to develop effective policies and sustainable solutions to the growing water challenges.

Zimbabwe had set a task force to come up with an immediate solution to the country’s water crisis. 

A comprehensive strategy had been devised to conclusively resolve the water supply situation with short, medium and long term. 

There had been growing calls to have additional water supply sources, revamping of the water and sewer reticulation systems and boosting of the water treatment plants in Zimbabwe. According to the Zimbabwe National Water Authority (ZINWA) water levels in dams had risen in response to rains received nationwide in the past weeks, bringing relief to most local authorities, whose water sources were fast drying up. 

In Namibia, extreme measures were put in place by water management authorities. There is also upgrade of run down infrastructure in cities and drilling of boreholes in the countryside. 

The authorities had announced the discovery of an underground lake fed by underground sources from Angola and that could become an additional water source for the country, once tested for human suitability.

Zambia has placed water management on its economic and sustainable development agenda in its National Development Plan 7 for the period 2017 – 2021. 

Population growth and growing water uses by farming and industry are putting pressure on the dwindling water resources. 

According to the government run Water Resources Management Authority (WARMA) the country had instituted new regulations that would help setting standards for the construction of new boreholes as 70 percent of water consumed in the country is from underground sources.

Under the NDP 7, Zambia seeks to enhance the management and provision of water and sanitation services through local authorities and commercial utilities. 

The 7th NDP also aims to mainstream the aspirations of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) into national planning, including SDG 6, which aims to achieve “universal and equitable access to safe and affordable drinking water” and “access to adequate and equitable sanitation and hygiene for all”.

Trans-boundary cooperation and adaptive management of critical river ecosystems is also fundamental to secure the region’s fragile biodiversity and ecosystem services and to support robust livelihoods. Ends