Beyond dams: assessing integrated water storage in the Shashe Catchment, Limpopo River Basin
Study region: The Shashe catchment, Limpopo River Basin, Botswana, and Zimbabwe. Study focus: The Shashe catchment is the third largest flow contributor to the Limpopo River Basin. Water availability in the Shashe catchment is highly seasonal due to high seasonal rainfall variability. The seasonali...
| Autores principales: | , , , , , |
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| Formato: | Journal Article |
| Lenguaje: | Inglés |
| Publicado: |
Elsevier
2024
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| Materias: | |
| Acceso en línea: | https://hdl.handle.net/10568/151875 |
| _version_ | 1855526757125324800 |
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| author | Ebrahim, Girma Yimer Lautze, Jonathan F. McCartney, Matthew P. Matheswaran, Karthikeyan Nyikadzino, B. Tafesse, N. T. |
| author_browse | Ebrahim, Girma Yimer Lautze, Jonathan F. Matheswaran, Karthikeyan McCartney, Matthew P. Nyikadzino, B. Tafesse, N. T. |
| author_facet | Ebrahim, Girma Yimer Lautze, Jonathan F. McCartney, Matthew P. Matheswaran, Karthikeyan Nyikadzino, B. Tafesse, N. T. |
| author_sort | Ebrahim, Girma Yimer |
| collection | Repository of Agricultural Research Outputs (CGSpace) |
| description | Study region: The Shashe catchment, Limpopo River Basin, Botswana, and Zimbabwe.
Study focus: The Shashe catchment is the third largest flow contributor to the Limpopo River Basin. Water availability in the Shashe catchment is highly seasonal due to high seasonal rainfall variability. The seasonality and inter-annual variability cause shortfalls (demand exceeds the average water availability) in certain months and years. Storage is needed to bridge the seasonal water availability “gap” and mitigate the deficits in drought years, i.e., inter-annual variability. While the need for water storage through grey infrastructure such as dams has long been known, there is growing recognition of the need for approaches to water storage that capitalize on all storage types. However, the current capacity to plan in ways that utilize all storage types is limited. The analyses conducted for this paper assessed the volume and spatial and temporal variability of different storage options – large and small dams, sand dams, soil moisture, and aquifers – in the Shashe catchment of the Limpopo River Basin. An integrated SWAT-MODFLOW model and remote sensing approach were developed for 2015–2020.
New hydrological insights for the region: The total annual water storage in the Shashe catchment is approximately 44,000 Mm3 , dominated by groundwater. The annual storage is about 42,000 Mm3 in aquifers, 1500 Mm3 in soil, 700 Mm3 in large dam reservoirs, 45 Mm3 in small dams/ponds, and 0.13 Mm3 in sand dams. There is high seasonality in water storage availability. Soil moisture storage is at its maximum from January to March and lowest from July to September. Dam storage is at its maximum from March to May, and the water storage is relatively stable throughout the year. Aquifer storage is relatively stable during the dry seasons compared to other storage options. Optimizing water use considering the seasonal variation in different storage types could improve water availability and climate resilience. |
| format | Journal Article |
| id | CGSpace151875 |
| institution | CGIAR Consortium |
| language | Inglés |
| publishDate | 2024 |
| publishDateRange | 2024 |
| publishDateSort | 2024 |
| publisher | Elsevier |
| publisherStr | Elsevier |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | CGSpace1518752025-12-02T10:59:51Z Beyond dams: assessing integrated water storage in the Shashe Catchment, Limpopo River Basin Ebrahim, Girma Yimer Lautze, Jonathan F. McCartney, Matthew P. Matheswaran, Karthikeyan Nyikadzino, B. Tafesse, N. T. water storage river basins dams water availability soil water content groundwater aquifers surface water reservoirs rainfall patterns trends models Study region: The Shashe catchment, Limpopo River Basin, Botswana, and Zimbabwe. Study focus: The Shashe catchment is the third largest flow contributor to the Limpopo River Basin. Water availability in the Shashe catchment is highly seasonal due to high seasonal rainfall variability. The seasonality and inter-annual variability cause shortfalls (demand exceeds the average water availability) in certain months and years. Storage is needed to bridge the seasonal water availability “gap” and mitigate the deficits in drought years, i.e., inter-annual variability. While the need for water storage through grey infrastructure such as dams has long been known, there is growing recognition of the need for approaches to water storage that capitalize on all storage types. However, the current capacity to plan in ways that utilize all storage types is limited. The analyses conducted for this paper assessed the volume and spatial and temporal variability of different storage options – large and small dams, sand dams, soil moisture, and aquifers – in the Shashe catchment of the Limpopo River Basin. An integrated SWAT-MODFLOW model and remote sensing approach were developed for 2015–2020. New hydrological insights for the region: The total annual water storage in the Shashe catchment is approximately 44,000 Mm3 , dominated by groundwater. The annual storage is about 42,000 Mm3 in aquifers, 1500 Mm3 in soil, 700 Mm3 in large dam reservoirs, 45 Mm3 in small dams/ponds, and 0.13 Mm3 in sand dams. There is high seasonality in water storage availability. Soil moisture storage is at its maximum from January to March and lowest from July to September. Dam storage is at its maximum from March to May, and the water storage is relatively stable throughout the year. Aquifer storage is relatively stable during the dry seasons compared to other storage options. Optimizing water use considering the seasonal variation in different storage types could improve water availability and climate resilience. 2024-10 2024-08-27T13:36:32Z 2024-08-27T13:36:32Z Journal Article https://hdl.handle.net/10568/151875 en Open Access Elsevier Ebrahim, Girma Y.; Lautze, Jonathan F.; McCartney, Matthew; Matheswaran, Karthikeyan; Nyikadzino, B.; Tafesse, N. T. 2024. Beyond dams: assessing integrated water storage in the Shashe Catchment, Limpopo River Basin. Journal of Hydrology: Regional Studies, 55:101913. [doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ejrh.2024.101913] |
| spellingShingle | water storage river basins dams water availability soil water content groundwater aquifers surface water reservoirs rainfall patterns trends models Ebrahim, Girma Yimer Lautze, Jonathan F. McCartney, Matthew P. Matheswaran, Karthikeyan Nyikadzino, B. Tafesse, N. T. Beyond dams: assessing integrated water storage in the Shashe Catchment, Limpopo River Basin |
| title | Beyond dams: assessing integrated water storage in the Shashe Catchment, Limpopo River Basin |
| title_full | Beyond dams: assessing integrated water storage in the Shashe Catchment, Limpopo River Basin |
| title_fullStr | Beyond dams: assessing integrated water storage in the Shashe Catchment, Limpopo River Basin |
| title_full_unstemmed | Beyond dams: assessing integrated water storage in the Shashe Catchment, Limpopo River Basin |
| title_short | Beyond dams: assessing integrated water storage in the Shashe Catchment, Limpopo River Basin |
| title_sort | beyond dams assessing integrated water storage in the shashe catchment limpopo river basin |
| topic | water storage river basins dams water availability soil water content groundwater aquifers surface water reservoirs rainfall patterns trends models |
| url | https://hdl.handle.net/10568/151875 |
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