SADC-GMI IMPLEMENTS SUB-GRANTS PROJECTS IN SADC MEMBER STATES

Component 3 of the Sustainable Groundwater Management in SADC Member States project Phase 2 speaks to Building Resilient Livelihoods and Inclusive Groundwater Management. Under this component, SADC-GMI has been awarding small grants to Member States to implement pilot projects that can be scaled up in the future. To date, 12 Member States have submitted concept notes and proposals for project implementation. The projects are at various stages of implementation.

The grant was divided into basic and competitive grants.

The submission of compelling concept notes and ultimately a full proposal that was in line with the World Bank requirements qualified Member States for the basic grant of up to 125 thousand USD per country. Over and above the basic grant, the competitive grant was awarded on a competitive basis to Member States that had submitted a concept note that demonstrated some level of innovation. Few Member States submitted and shared amongst themselves the 500,000 USD that was earmarked for a competitive grant.

Thus far Angola, the Democratic Republic of Congo, the kingdom of Eswatini, Lesotho, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Tanzania, Zambia, and Zimbabwe submitted their concept notes and proposals for the Basic Grant, and their projects are at different levels of negotiation/implementation. The Democratic Republic of Congo, Lesotho, and Zambia were awarded the competitive grant where they are sharing the 500,000 USD among themselves. Their projects are undergoing the final stages of negotiations prior to the commencement of implementation.

The National Institute of Water Resources (INRH) of the Ministry of Energy and Water (MINEA) is carrying out the implementation of the Groundwater Monitoring and Management Project in Caimbambo Municipality, Benguela Province, called the “Caimbambo Project”. The project’s objective is to strengthen the water supply capacity to the Communities of Caiave and Catengue of the Municipality of Caimbambo, Province of Benguela. The main project activities include the Drilling and installation of a Small Water Supply System, equipping two boreholes with submersible pumps of the Type Grundfos powered by solar panels, Acquisition and assembly of six solar panels of 270 watts to power the submersible pumps, three panels for each pump; acquisition and assembly of two polyethylene reservoirs, with a storage capacity of 10,000 litres, supported by the base of 2.0 meters high; Installation of two fountains with four water taps in each of the communities (Caiave and Catengue).

To assist the City of Mandimba population with access to drinking water, the government of the Democratic Republic of Congo is implementing a water supply project in Mandimba City, Congo Central. The scope of work includes the construction of a mini network of water distribution and a groundwater pumping station in the Kongo Central Community. Activities of the project include drilling three boreholes, two ferrocement tanks of 75m3 each, a buried pvc pipe network, approximately 6 km long; and 9 standpipes with three communal taps.

The project aims to support the improvement of knowledge on groundwater resources in the Kingdom of Eswatini to provide a sound information base for the management and development of the resource. Activities for the project include innovative approaches for improving the knowledge of groundwater resources in the country, capacitating managers and relevant stakeholders in groundwater monitoring and management and providing a state-of-the-art monitoring information system.

To improve groundwater monitoring and assessment while ensuring effective and sustainable use of groundwater for domestic, agriculture, and the natural environment, Lesotho is implementing the “Construction of Groundwater Monitoring and Water Supply Systems Project.

The scope of work for the project includes the drilling of new boreholes for monitoring and water supply to vulnerable communities and capturing natural springs for water supply. Project activities include identification of the location of the existing boreholes and natural springs, drilling of new boreholes and capacity building for the communities on sustainable use and maintenance of the Borehole infrastructure.

The project aims to Revitalize the Groundwater monitoring network through rehabilitation of the existing wells and installation of telemetrically enabled monitoring wells in strategic aquifers and building the capacity of national, district, and community stakeholders for effective management of the existing groundwater monitoring network. Main project activities include the rehabilitation of 20 monitoring boreholes. The project is implemented by BASEFlow on behalf of the Ministry of Water and Sanitation, Department of Water Resources Lilongwe.

Mauritius is implementing Groundwater Monitoring through the installation of automatic data logging, transmissions, and acquisition Systems for representative boreholes in the main aquifers of the Mauritius project. The project aims to acquire real-time data for effective groundwater management by equipping 10 representative monitoring wells in the main aquifers with automatic data loggers and a telemetry system. The main project activities include the identification of 10 existing representative monitoring wells, rehabilitation, and securing of existing boreholes.

The District of Matutuíne in the Administrative Post of Machangulo is facing more serious problems with water supply to the local communities as well as for meeting water consumption related to the tourist area. It does not have any small water supply system, having only traditional dug wells without any satisfactory sanitary conditions. To address the water challenges of Machangulo, the National Directorate for Water Resources Management – Department of Water Resources Management is implementing the Groundwater Assessment in Machangulo Region Matutuine District project

The objective of the project is to evaluate groundwater availability in the Machangulo region which is seen as an alternative source of water for the local population, considering that this region does not have surface water sources nor any public water supply system. The project comprises two phases, The main activities include the assessment of groundwater availability in the study area – Phase 1 and the Construction of infrastructure for water supply – Phase II.

Sustainable Groundwater Use in arid Southern Namibia //Karas Region project aims to enhance sustainable groundwater use in arid Southern Namibia, particularly the ||Karas region, through an improved understanding of groundwater resource occurrence in the deep Karoo and the crystalline basement aquifers. The project promotes the sustainable and coordinated management of groundwater resources for improved livelihoods, ecosystem health, and economic development.

South Africa is reviewing and updating the Hydrogeological Map Series and Information Brochure for the Polokwane Area, South Africa. The primary aim of updating the General Hydrogeological Map and information brochure of the Polokwane area is to produce a synoptic overview of the hydrogeological character of the area. The other objective is to develop a methodology for updating existing hydrogeological maps of South Africa. The map will be an interactive digital tool and uploaded to the Ministry database and systems.

The overall project objective is to carry out groundwater assessment studies and the drilling of three exploratory boreholes in the Nzuguni area to advise on the development of safe and reliable sources for augmenting the water supply of Dodoma City. The study intends to identify the recharge zone and drilling of three exploratory boreholes at Nzunguni Aquifer for monitoring groundwater fluctuations and water quality.

The project aims to identify and characterize aquifers in the Sihumbwa area with sufficient productive capacity such that they can be used for the school and communities’ water supply. Develop three solar-powered production boreholes that will cater to the water needs for the school and the community. The main activities of the project include drilling and equipping three production boreholes for water supply to Sihumbwa Basic School, Sihumbwa Health Post, and the surrounding community for various livelihoods, protecting the catchment area for Sihumbwa area through afforestation.

Groundwater monitoring systems within the Save Alluvial Aquifer are relatively outdated and are incapable of measuring water quality and abstraction rates. This limits the information available for the sustainable management of the aquifer and sound decision-making. In view of this challenge, Zimbabwe is implementing a Groundwater monitoring project in the Save Alluvial Aquifer by putting in place a real- time telemetric system to generate data that will enable the sustainable management of the system.

The activities of the project include redesigning the monitoring network, rehabilitating identified monitoring wells, installing a real-time telemetric groundwater monitoring , training technical staff on the operation and maintenance of the system, and community awareness meetings.