Establishing the Environmental Flow Regime for the Middle Zambezi River
eBook - PDF

Establishing the Environmental Flow Regime for the Middle Zambezi River

  1. 190 pages
  2. English
  3. PDF
  4. Available on iOS & Android
eBook - PDF

Establishing the Environmental Flow Regime for the Middle Zambezi River

About this book

The Middle Zambezi, host to a rich biodiversity, is located in the central part of the Zambezi River Basin which covers eight Southern African Countries. The area is located downstream of three hydropower schemes. In the last decades, the floodplain riparian tree, the Faidherbia albida, vital for the local wild life, has shown a worrying decrease in its regeneration rates. This thesis explores establishing the environmental flow regime for the Middle Zambezi reach in order to minimise the impact of the upstream hydropower schemes on the river environment, using the Faidherbia albida tree as a biological indicator.
The research identified that the current dam operations have completely altered the natural hydrological rhythm from pre-Kariba dam dry season flows of 100-200 m 3 /s increasing to 1, 000-1, 500 m 3 /s. The sudden closure of the dam floodgates can be linked to the observed river channel-widening phenomenon. In addition, the Faidherbia albida tree now experiences longer flood residence over the floodplain, making it inaccessible to animals to allow for regeneration.
In order to save the F. albida tree, a two-pronged environmental flow regime is proposed of releasing a moderate flood of 5, 800 m 3 /s once in 5 years, for 5 to 6 weeks in the months of February to March, and phasing the spillway gates closure over a period of 3 to 4 weeks to keep the floodplain wet enough until the months of May and June. Phasing of the spillway gate closure would also mitigate the excessive bank erosion.

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Yes, you can access Establishing the Environmental Flow Regime for the Middle Zambezi River by Elenestina Mwelwa-Mutekenya in PDF and/or ePUB format, as well as other popular books in Technology & Engineering & Civil Engineering. We have over one million books available in our catalogue for you to explore.

Table of contents

  1. Cover
  2. Half Title
  3. Title Page
  4. Copyright Page
  5. Dedication
  6. SUMMARY
  7. SAMENVATTING
  8. Table of Content
  9. CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION
  10. CHAPTER 2: HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE OF THE HYDROPOWER DOMINATED ZAMBEZI BASIN
  11. CHAPTER 3: THE STUDY AREA - MIDDLE ZAMBEZI SUB-CATCHMENT
  12. CHAPTER 4: SURFACE AND SUBSURFACE FLOWS
  13. CHAPTER 5: MORPHODYNAMICS
  14. CHAPTER 6: FLOOD PLAIN VEGETATION
  15. CHAPTER 7: SUGGESTED ENVIRONMENTAL FLOW REGIME
  16. CHAPTER 8: SYNTHESIS, CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
  17. REFERENCES