Development of a water management decision model for Limpopo Province, South Africa

[摘要] The study was conducted in the Limpopo Province with a focus on the Limpopo and Luvuvhu-Letaba Water Management Areas. The main issues investigated were (1) water resources, mainlyrunoff and storage capacity of the target Water Management Areas and municipalities, and thewater gain and loss of the Middle Letaba Dam, (2) water management issues, mainly perceptionsof municipal water managers on the water resource and its uses, and their perceptions onstakeholder participation, and (3) household water supply and requirement. A water managementdecision model was proposed based on the results of the investigations.The results of the investigations revealed that: (1) The Limpopo WMA has a MAR of 611.4million m3 for possible development of new dams compared to only 365.2 million m3 for theLuvuvhu-Letaba WMA, and related results were recorded for municipalities in these WMAs.The storage volumes of the Middle Letaba Dam were very small compared to design capacity;(2) The municipal water managers lacked knowledge on water resources and were relativelymore knowledgeable on water use. Water management decisions were made by governmentbased stakeholders while community based stakeholders had little influence on watermanagement decisions; (3) There was a lack of access to safe water sources, only half (50.1%) ofhouseholds obtained water from street taps. The quantity of water fetched ranged from 25 tomore than 200 litres per household per day and the amount fetched was more for householdslocated near the water sources. As a result of scarcity, water was mostly used for basic activitiessuch as drinking, preparing food and bathing. Half (51. 7%) of the households fetched less waterthan the 25 litres per capita per day supply standard which itself did not meet the averagerequirement of 37.5 litres per capita per day; and (4) A water management decision model wasproposed based on the framework of the Congruence Model. The proposed model stated themain challenges faced by the water sector in the study area and assessed the capacity of theservice organisations to address them by analysing the congruence between the challenges andthe capacity. All assessed water service organisations only had moderate capacity to address the challenges. The lack of filling of some posts was the most significant constraint to theeffectiveness of the organisations.It is therefore recommended that: (1) The Limpopo WMA be the focus for possible constructionof new dams, especially the Mogalakwena, Lephalale and Mokoio catchments in the WMA asthey showed to have more available mean annual runoff for possible development of new dams.Although the Luvuvhu-Letaba WMA was shown to be well developed in terms of storage dams,the Mutale Catchment had more available mean annual runoff for possible development of newdams. Regular investigations of runoff and dam storage capacity should be conducted as thecurrent status will change due to changing rainfall patterns and dam siltation. Water should betransferred to the Middle Letaba Dam from other catchments in order to maintain this dam at afull level and consequently to improve the supply of the resource to planned areas; (2).Municipal water managers should be trained on water resources and to a lesser extent onresource uses for them to make relevant decisions on the management and use of the resource.Community based stakeholders should be involved in water management decisions and shouldbe capacitated to be reliable sources of water information; (3) The Department of Water Affairsshould reconsider the 25 litres per capita per day as a supply standard as it does not suffice forthe average requirement of 37.5 litres per capita per day proposed in this study. (4) Guided bythe proposed water management decision model, service organisations should improve theircapacity to address water sector problems.

[发布机构] University of the Free State