Natural resource management
The evaluation of the present and potential water resources management for the Lake Chilwa Basin
The implementation of water resource management in the Lake Chilwa catchment area, Malawi
Authors:
G.M.S. Chavula; BASIS
Publisher:
University of Malawi - The Polytechnic, 2010
The Lake Chilwa Basin is important for fishing,agricultural production, research and a source of water supply for the Municipality of Zomba, Southern Malawi. The local population depend on the flood plain of Lake Chilwa for rice production and cattle grazing.The ministry of Agriculture has also established rice irrigation schemes in the Basin where people grow rice on a commercial basis.The sustainability of agricultural production is heavily reliant upon the availability of water in the flood plain such that during drought periods the yields are greatly reduced. This study’s main objective is to provide data which can be used in the development of water resources master plans for the Basin.
Recommendations from the study include:
- a better value of mean evapotranspiration for the catchment area should be computed using climate data obtained from several stations
- detailed studies should be done in order to determine the amount of water in storage
- a water Resource Master Plan for the basin should be developed with the involvement of all stakeholders
- more water points should be constructed in order to meet the current demand for water resources
- groundwater resources should be developed as they are largely remain untapped
- measures to protect the catchment area from degradation should be intensified
- sedimentation in reservoirs, rivers and Lake Chilwa should be monitored and controlled
- measures to mitigate flood disasters should be put in place
- more gauging stations should be installed to monitor discharge, rainfall and evapotranspiration
- stakeholders should be involved in water resources monitoring
- robust and resilient anticipatory adaptive measures to climate change should be implemented.
