2018 Water Abstraction Survey Report Current Water Use in the Lower Mara River Basin, Tanzania Lake Victoria Basin Water Board under the Ministry of Water of the United Republic of Tanzania December 2019 This publication was produced for review by the United States Agency for International Development. It was prepared by Winrock International, in partnership with Tetra Tech, International Union for Conservation of Nature, Stockholm Environment Institute, and World Resources Institute Executive Summary The Sustainable Water Partnership aims to support the improvement of water resources management in the Mara River Basin. Among the tasks of the partnership is to develop a Water Allocation Plan for the entire river basin. The Water Allocation Plan will define the amount of water provided to different water users in the basin, as well as the priority of categories of water user, to ensure the equitable sharing of freshwater resources and to support the proper management of these resources during times of scarce water availability. As part of the Water Allocation Planning process, information on the current water use is important. This report describes the information gathered during field work in the Mara River Basin in Tanzania (TzMRB) to estimate current use, including locations, source types, approximate amounts abstracted, and purposes for the water abstractions. Information reported here will be combined with data presented separately on water resource availability, future demand projections, and the reserve to calculate the water balance to be included in the Mara-wide Water Allocation Plan. Current water use has been quantified based on information gathered in the field during the abstraction survey. In total, 499 abstraction points were recorded, out of which only 344 were functional. Serengeti District has the largest number of abstractions at 196, followed by Tarime District with 183, Butiama District with 144, and Rorya District with 6 abstraction points. Considering hydrological boundaries, 3 hydrological units make up the TzMRB: Serengeti, Somoche and Mara. A total of 13,577 m3 of water is abstracted daily with 1,874 m3/day being abstracted from the Serengeti HU, 11,178 m3/day in the Mara HU, and 525 m3/day in the Somoche HU. Groundwater use is quite common in the basin, with over 400 abstractors relying on either deep boreholes, springs, or shallow wells equipped with hand pumps. Only 39 abstractors were found which draw water directly from the river, while 46 take water from water pans/dams. The most common use of water abstracted (49 percent) is for domestic purposes (including public supply). Livestock use amounted to 25 percent, 18 percent for mining, 4 percent for irrigation, and 1 percent for hotels and tourism. The information from the abstraction survey was presented to stakeholders during a stakeholder engagement workshop on November 5th & 6th, 2018 in Tarime, Tanzania. A technical review meeting was also conducted by the Ministry of Water and other partners in July 2019. Feedback from these meetings was collected and incorporated into the findings presented in this report. 2018 Water Abstraction Survey Report – Lower Mara River Basin, Tanzania Page ii Table of Contents 1. Introduction 6 Lake Victoria Basin Water Board 6 Mara River 6 Objectives of the Abstraction Survey 7 Scope of Survey 8 2. Inception Phase 9 3. Preparation Phase 10 4. Field Work 12 5. Analysis of Abstractions 14 6. Conclusions and Recommendations 24 2018 Water Abstraction Survey Report – Lower Mara River Basin, Tanzania Page iii Acronyms HU hydrological unit IHE Delft IHE Delft Institute for Water Education km2 square kilometres LVBWB Lake Victoria Basin Water Board m3/d cubic metres per day MoW United Republic of Tanzania Ministry of Water TzMRB Mara River Basin in Tanzania SENAPA Serengeti National Park SWP Sustainable Water Partnership WAP Water Allocation Plan WUA Water Users Association 2018 Water Abstraction Survey Report – Lower Mara River Basin, Tanzania Page iv List of Tables Table 1: Wards covered in the abstraction survey .................................................................................. 8 Table 2: List of stakeholders and their roles in the TzMRB ................................................................... 12 Table 3: Field team members ................................................................................................................ 13 Table 4: Total number and volume of abstractions in the TzMRB by water source.............................. 19 Table 5: Total number and volume of abstractions in the TzMRB by water use ................................... 21 List of Figures Figure 1: Map of Mara River Basin .......................................................................................................... 7 Figure 2: Abstraction survey coverage by district and ward .................................................................... 8 Figure 3: Overview of the survey questionnaire in the mWater app ..................................................... 10 Figure 4: Overview of survey responses in the mWater portal.............................................................. 11 Figure 5: Map of abstractions in the TzMRB by district ......................................................................... 15 Figure 6: Number of abstractions in the TzMRB by district ................................................................... 15 Figure 7: Map of abstractions in the TzMRB by hydrological units ....................................................... 16 Figure 8: Pie chart showing the status of the water sources ................................................................. 16 Figure 9: Functional abstractions per hydrological units ....................................................................... 17 Figure 10: Total volume of abstractions (m3/day) in the HUs ................................................................ 17 Figure 11: Cumulative abstractions for all water use categories ........................................................... 18 Figure 12: Abstraction sources in the TzMRB by hydrological units ..................................................... 18 Figure 13: Number of abstraction points by water source per HU ........................................................ 19 Figure 14: Total volume of abstractions by source ................................................................................ 20 Figure 15: Categories of water uses in the TzMRB by hydrological unit............................................... 20 Figure 16: Volume of abstractions by different water use categories ................................................... 21 Figure 17: Permit status ......................................................................................................................... 22 Figure 18: Percentage of metered vs unmetered abstractions ............................................................. 23 Figure 19: Status of water use payment ................................................................................................ 24 2018 Water Abstraction Survey Report – Lower Mara River Basin, Tanzania Page v 1. INTRODUCTION The Sustainable Water Partnership (SWP) is a programme that aims to support the improvement of water resources management in the Mara River Basin. One of their tasks is to develop a Mara-wide Water Allocation Plan (WAP) for the entire river basin. The WAP will define the amount of water provided to different water users in the basin, as well as the priority of categories of water user, to ensure the equitable sharing of freshwater resources and to support the proper management of these resources during times of scarce water supply. As part of the WAP process in the Mara River Basin in Tanzania (TzMRB), information on current water use is required. A water abstraction survey was carried out by the Lake Victoria Basin Water Board (LVBWB) under the United Republic of Tanzania Ministry of Water (MoW) and in partnership with IHE Delft Institute for Water Education (IHE Delft) and the SWP. During this survey, field teams used a customized cell phone application from mWater to gather data on the water abstractions from rivers, groundwater, dams & water pan, and springs across the TzMRB. Information included the location of the abstraction, an estimate on the amount of water abstracted, and the purpose of the abstraction, among other information. This information will be used to provide estimates on water use across various sectors within the TzMRB. It also served as an important awareness campaign for the LVBWB to connect with the water users and discuss the need and importance of proper permitting and management of freshwater resources. LAKE VICTORIA BASIN WATER BOARD The LVBWB was established in the year 2000 in accordance with Water Utilization and Allocation Act of 1974, which was repealed by Water Resources Management Act, 2009. Under the Act of 2009, the water resources within Tanzania were divided into nine river basins, each to be run by a basin water board. Each board has the mandate of managing water resources within their basin, as guided by the language in the Act. The basins include Pangani, Wami/Ruvu, Rufiji, Ruvuma and South Coastal, Lake Nyasa, Internal Drainage Basin, Lake Rukwa, Lake Tanganyika and Lake Victoria Basin. The TzMRB lies within the Lake Victoria Basin and is managed by the LVBWB. The LVBWB has their main office in Mwanza, with sub-offices in Musoma and Bukoba. MARA RIVER The Mara River is