The project “Zambezi River Basin Groundwater Hydrology Characterisation in Zimbabwe” was a contribution to the “Water and Cooperation within the Zambezi River Basin (ZRB)” case study project for Southern Africa Centres of Excellence (CoEs) in the framework of AU/NEPAD ACEWATER2 project. The general objective of the case study project was to assess Water-Energy-Food-Ecosystem (WEFE) interdependencies across the Zambezi River Basin. The following specific objectives guided scientific activities related to groundwater hydrology characterisation in Zimbabwe:
1. To provide a multi-scale groundwater hydrology baseline database at ZRB and selected countries level, based on literature review, available data sources and existing country/regional scale studies of major relevance to WEFE nexus;
2. To provide baseline conditions database on groundwater hydrology and water demand vs. availability for few shared regional case studies, by gathering and processing data and by-products and to perform groundwater assessment;
3. To perform vulnerability assessment to contamination of selected aquifers across the ZRB.
The scientific activities yielded the following outcomes which are detailed in this report:
1. Baseline report and a spatial database for groundwater hydrology in the ZRB in Zimbabwe
2. Baseline report and data on demand for water for different water users and spatial database on water availability represented by recharge and borehole yields in the ZRB in Zimbabwe.
3. Report on State of the art aquifer vulnerability assessment and a groundwater vulnerability map for the ZRB in Zimbabwe.
The water-energy-food-ecosystem nexus has implications on the demand for groundwater for various uses in the basin and the availability of groundwater in the basin to meet the demand. The nexus is also affected by availability of surface water in the Zambezi River and climatic conditions that allow for recharge of groundwater and generation of energy to access the groundwater for use.
- Annex 18: Makaya E. and Chinyama A., 2020. Inception report. ACEWATER2 report JRC122705 (Component of deliverable)
- Annex 19: Makaya E. and Chinyama A., 2020. Intermediate report on Zambezi River Basin Groundwater Hydrology Characterisation in Zimbabwe. ACEWATER2 report JRC122705 (Component of deliverable)
- Annex 20: Makaya E. and Chinyama A., 2020. Final report: Zambezi River Basin Groundwater Hydrology Characterisation in Zimbabwe. ACEWATER2 report JRC122705 (Main deliverable)
- Annex 21: Makaya E. and Chinyama A., 2020. Database (maps on hydrogeology in Zimbabwe). ACEWATER2 report JRC122705 (Component of deliverable)