SADC DEVELOPS GROUND WATER MANAGEMENT TOOLS

With a view to improving development and management of ground water recourses in the region, the Southern African Development Community (SADC) is developing several tools to empower persons and organisations involved in the management of ground water in the region.

SADC Water Division Senior Programme Officer Phera Ramoeli explained that ground water is likely to play an even greater role for human development under changing climatic conditions hence the need for the resource to be well protected, and properly managed as a measure to mitigate climate change effects.

The tools being developed by the SADC Water Division through the Ground water and Drought Management Project will also assist in raising the profile of groundwater.

Mr. Ramoeli says this in a statement obtained by ZANIS, today, signed by SADC Water Division Communications and Research Officer Barbra Lopi in Bostwana

The Programme Officer explains that the tools include ground water management plans for communities, maps that will give visual representation of the vulnerability of ground water and its location dependant ecosystems in the region.

“ All ground water resources are vulnerable to various degrees, hence, the ground ater vulnerability maps will assist in guiding planners and resource managers in determining which areas are more susceptible to groundwater contamination within the region, “ He says.

Ground water Dependent Ecosystem (GDEs) are a vital yet poorly understood component of the natural environment. Typical examples of these systems are spring (hydrosphere) and wetland ecosystems where groundwater seeps to soil surface occur.

In these systems ground water contribute to water and nutrients which maintain a rich and unique biodiversity adjusted to these special conditions.

Methodologies on how to assist member states establish economic value of groundwater are also being developed to determine the economic value of the hidden resource, thereby, creating an environment for its better management.

All these tools and methodologies will aid decision planning and thus assist decision makers in proper management, policy analysis and development of ground water resources.

Mr. Ramoeli says awareness is needed to make groundwater and its economic value, importance, and potential role towards socio-economic development, poverty alleviation and climate adaptation, more visible in the eyes of policy and decision makers, parliamentarians, the media and the general public in southern Africa.