Dam Synchronisation and flood releases in the Zambezi River Basin
| Location: | South Africa |
|---|---|
| Client: | Southern African Development Community (SADC) |
assignment/short description
The Zambezi river basin is a complex watershed, both hydrologically and institutionally. The Upper Zambezi (Western part) of the catchment consists of huge layers of deposited Kalahari sands, interspersed by vast wetlands, while the Middle and Lower Zambezi are generally more mountainous and fast responding on rainfall. Its water resources are shared amongst no less than eight riparian countries. Large reservoirs amongst which Lake Kariba and Lake Cahora Bassa have been built in the colonial period for electricity production. The dams are operated by different organisations and communication and information sharing between dam managers is limited. This has caused unneccesary floods downstream of the reservoirs, reduction of energy productivity and an unnatural runoff regime with negative impacts on the rich eco-systems within the Zambezi.
The Southern African Development Community (SADC) has initiated a project, to recommend on improved operations of the reservoirs in the Zambezi river basin. In particular the focus of the recommendations has been on feasibility of forecasting of floods, added value of synchronized operation, environmental flow releases and potential of new infrastructure. This project has been performed by a joint venture, consisting of SSI (South-Africa), WRNA (South Africa), SEED (Mozambique), Rankin Engineering (Zambia) and Deltares. The project has been financed by the Gesellschaft für Technische Zusammenarbeit (GTZ).
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