Africa-Press – Botswana. The Department of Water and Sanitation is working with Zambezi Watercourse Commission (ZAMCOM) member states, to develop operating rules for the Chobe-Zambezi water transfer project.
Speaking at a consultancy forum with ZAMCOM member states recently, Chobe- Zambezi water transfer scheme operating rules project manager, Mr Thabo Baoleki said the project aimed to develop operating rules to regulate abstraction to ensure its sustainability, ensure availability of water for downstream users and maintain supply especially during low flows.
Mr Baoleki stated that the Chobe- Zambezi water scheme addressed water shortages and helped to improve food security in Botswana.
He said it was imperative to collaborate as ZAMCOM, to ensure member states benefited from Zambezi water basin without jeopardising its existence. He added that the operating rules would address environmental considerations to ensure that the in-stream and environmental flow requirements were catered for in the operations of the System.
Botswana shares the Chobe-Zambezi confluence with Namibia, Zimbabwe and Zambia which therefore, means that measurements for water abstraction will overlap to these countries, Mr Baoleki said and further stated that the forum would establish the quality of water so that when the scheme commenced, water quality baseline data was available.
He indicated that Chobe River was beneficial to communities operating their businesses on the river, through farming and tourism hence it was imperative that water abstraction would not impact them negatively.
“Operating rules will ensure that water abstraction on Zambezi basin is done appropriately without infringing on any users rights to the water,” said Mr Baoleki.
He pointed out that during the week-long discussions, delegates were taken on a site tour at existing monitoring and abstraction points in Livingstone, Zambia where they familiarised themselves with the operating rules and monitoring programmes.
Zambia’s Ministry of Water Development and Sanitation permanent secretary, Mr Joe Kalusa acknowledged the significance of collaborations as ZAMCOM member states in formulating standard procedures for water usage in the region.
He said Botswana extended an invitation to all ZAMCOM member states to a site visit, to the abstraction point of the planned Chobe Zambezi Water Transfer Scheme, which they accepted so that they could check parameters and assess how viable it would be for Botswana to tap water.
Mr Kalusa stated that Zambia was extracting water from Zambezi basin for domestic, commercial use and power generation hence noted that it was fitting that they supported others who wished to abstract water from the resource.
In 2010, Botswana secured access to abstract 495 million cubic metres of water per year from the Zambezi River Basin to support domestic water demand, commercial agriculture and industrial demand with about 225 million cubic metres going to domestic and industrial use while the remaining 270 million cubic metres will go to the Integrated Agro-Commercial development Project in Pandamatenga.
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