Write up (iv) interim paper for WaterNet 2007 The lower Mzingwane alluvial aquifer: managed releases, groundwater - surface water interactions and the challenge of salinity David Love a,b*, Richard Owen c, Stefan Uhlenbrook d,e, Pieter van der Zaag d,e and William Moyce f a WaterNet, PO Box MP600, Mt. Pleasant, Harare, b ICRISAT , Matopos Research Station, PO Box 776 Bulawayo, Zimbabwe c Mineral Resources Centre, University of Zimbabwe, PO MP 167, Mt. Pleasant, Harare, Zimbabwe d UNESCO-IHE, Westvest 7, PO Box 3015, 2601 DA Delft, The Netherlands e Department of Water Resources, Delft University of Technology, PO Box 5048, 2600 GA Delft, The Netherlands f Department of Geology, University of Zimbabwe, PO MP 167, Mount Pleasant, Harare, Zimbabwe

Abstract

The alluvial aquifers of the Mzingwane Catchments are the most extensive of any tributaries in the Limpopo Basin and are present in the lower reaches of most of the larger rivers. The alluvial aquifers form ribbon shapes covering over 20 km in length, generally less than 1 km in width and areal extents ranging from 100 ha to 255 ha in the channels and 85 ha to 430 ha on the flood plains. The study area is the lower , downstream of Zhovhe Dam for a stretch of approximately 50 km. Five commercial agro-businesses use alluvial groundwater for citrus, wheat, maize and vegetable production. The water is abstracted from boreholes and well-points in the river and on the banks. These large users are resupplied by release of water from Zhovhe Dam, which recharges the aquifer. Zhovhe Dam also releases water for town, which abstracts the water from the , into which the Mzingwane flows. For the year May 2006 to April 2007, water released from the dam or irrigation and urban water supply was below losses recorded. Similar trends were recorded in previous years. However, there is no information available on groundwater – surface water interactions in the river below Zhovhe Dam. Thus the river-aquifer system is being instrumented with piezometers and a flow gauging station. From the data obtained, a combined groundwater – surface water shall be prepared using the recently developed MODFLOW-MIKE11 interface. Salinity of groundwater in the lower Mzingwane aquifers has been found to increase significantly in the end of the dry season, and this effect is more pronounced in water abstracted from wells on the alluvial plains. During drought years, recharge is expected to be less and if the drought is extended water levels in the aquifers may drop substantially, increasing salinity problems. This problem shall also be modelled.

1. Introduction

An alluvial aquifer can be described as a groundwater unit, generally unconfined above, that is hosted in horizontally discontinuous layers of sand, silt and clay, deposited by a river in a river channel, banks or flood plain. They are recharged either continuously if the river is fully perennial, or, more usually, annually (Barker and Molle, 2004). Because of their shallow depth and vicinity to the streambed, alluvial aquifers have an intimate relationship with stream flow. It can be argued that groundwater flow in alluvial aquifers is an extension of surface flow (Mansell and Hussey, 2005). Surface water bodies, or reaches thereof, can be classified as discharge water bodies if they receive a groundwater contribution to baseflow, or as recharge water bodies if they recharge a shallow aquifer below the streambed (Townley, 1998).

In semi-arid regions, streams with alluvial aquifers tend to vary from discharge water bodies in the dry season, to recharge water bodies during the rainy season or under a managed release regime (Owen, 1991). Although there is a considerable body of research on the interaction between surface water bodies and shallow aquifers, most of this focuses on systems with low temporal variability. In contrast, intermittent rainfall patterns in semi-arid regions have the potential to impose high temporal variability on alluvial aquifers, especially small ones. For example, single high magnitude flows have been shown to have a greater influence on recharge than the more frequent, small to medium flows in the Kuiseb River in Namibia (Lange, 2005).

The alluvial aquifers of the Mzingwane Catchment are the most extensive of any tributaries in the Limpopo Basin (Görgens and Boroto, 1997). Alluvial deposits are present in the lower reaches of most of the larger rivers (Bubye, Mwenezi, Mzingwane, Shashe, Thuli and their tributaries. They are narrow bands, typically less than 1 km in width on the largest rivers.

The alluvial aquifers form ribbon shapes covering over 20 km in length and areal extents ranging from 100 ha to 255 ha in the channels and 85 ha to 430 ha on the flood plains (Moyce et al., 2006). Smaller alluvial aquifers occur along many of the tributaries of the Mzingwane, Thuli and Shashe Rivers. The distribution of these aquifers is determined by the river gradient, geometry of channel, fluctuation of stream power as a function of decreasing discharge downstream due to evaporation and infiltration losses, and rates of sediment input due to erosion (Owen, 1991). Infiltration rates are fairly constant, due to the physical homogeneity of alluvium. An enhancement of the thickness and areal extent of alluvial aquifers is commonly observed associated with geological boundaries, and this enhancement occurs both upstream and downstream of the geological contact. Recharge of the alluvial aquifers is generally excellent and is derived principally from river flow. No river flow occurs until the channel aquifer is saturated and such full recharge normally occurs early in the rainy season. For lateral plains aquifers, recharge depends on the permeability of the aquifer, the distance from the channel and the duration of river flow. Artificial recharge comes from seepage from small dams and from releases from large dams such as Zhove (Mzingwane River) and Silalabuhwa (Insiza River). The aquifers can sustain small-scale irrigation and infiltration galleries, and well point systems can be constructed to exploit the resource (Owen and Dahlin, 2005).

2. Managed releases in the lower Mzingwane river system

The area of study is the lower Mzingwane River and associated alluvial aquifers, from Zhovhe Dam (capacity 133 Mm3) to Bertie Knott bridge, a stretch of approximately 50 km, see figure 1. The alluvial aquifer downstream of Zhovhe consists of two components: a channel aquifer and a plains aquifer.

Figure 1. The Lower Mzingwane River system. Inset: location in southern Africa.

Five commercial agro-businesses use alluvial groundwater for citrus, wheat, maize and vegetable production. The water is abstracted from boreholes and well-points in the river and on the banks. These large users are resupplied by release of water from Zhovhe Dam, which recharges the aquifer. Zhovhe Dam also releases water for Beitbridge town, which abstracts the water from the Limpopo River, into which the Mzingwane flows. Water released from Zhovhe reaches the area (see figure 1) after an average of 8 days. The estimated areal extent of aquifer in the study area is 1,455 ha of channel aquifer and 3,647 ha of plains aquifer (Moyce et al., 2006).

For the year May 2006 to April 2007, water released from Zhovhe Dam for irrigation and urban water supply (21.8 Mm3) was below losses recorded from the dam: 43.6 Mm3, including evaporation losses of 13.2 Mm3. Similar trends were recorded in previous years.

3. Groundwater - surface water interactions

Currently, there is no hydrological information available on the groundwater or surface water in the river below Zhovhe Dam. Thus the river-aquifer system is being instrumented with piezometers and a flow gauging station (see figure 1).

The main input to the system is releases and spillage from Zhovhe Dam; these are recorded at the dam. Other inputs are flows from the Zhovhe, Mtetengwe and Ndambe Rivers and rainfall. The Mtetengwe catchment shall be modelled using SWAT (Soil and Water Assessment Tool; Arnold et al., 1993; Arnold and Foster, 2005). The model shall be calibrated against a gauging station. The calibrated model shall be transferred to the Zhovhe and Ndambe catchments to derive runoff for the ungauged Zhovhe River. To this end, rain gauges have been installed in the three catchments and discharge is being recorded on the Mzingwane River, at the downstream end of the study area.

The main output from the system is flow through the Bertie Knott bridge. A series of limnigraphs have been installed at the bridge for measurement of surface and sub-surface flow. Evaporation from surface water is measured from a class A evaporation pan, located at Zhovhe Dam, and will be corrected for the proportion of the river channel flooded for a release or spillage of given size. Evaporation from sand shall be compared against that studied by Wipplinger (1958) in Namibia; the only study on evaporation in alluvial sands in the region.

From the data obtained, a combined groundwater – surface water shall be prepared using the recently developed MODFLOW-MIKE11 interface.

4. Salinity

Salinity of groundwater in the lower Mzingwane aquifers has been found to increase significantly in the end of the dry season, and this effect is more pronounced in water abstracted from wells on the alluvial plains (Love et al., 2006). The difference in chemistry between the river bank aquifers on the one hand and the rivers and bed aquifers on the other is clear (figure 2). The bank aquifers (CP033, CP036) show very high levels of sodium and chloride, well above recommended levels for irrigation, livestock watering or domestic use (DWAF, 1996a; 1996b; WHO, 2004). The riverbed aquifers have similar chemical signatures to the river surface water and are of acceptable quality for most uses.

During drought years, recharge is expected to be less and if the drought is extended water levels in the aquifers may drop substantially, increasing salinity problems.

600 180 Alkalinity Cadmium Calcium Chloride 500 150 Copper Iron Nitrates Potassium Magnesium Phosphates 400 120 Manganese Sodium Sulphate Total Hardness 300 90

200 60 Concentration (mg/l) Concentration Concentration (mg/l) Concentration 100 30

0 0 River Bank aquifer Aquifer Aquifer Bank aquifer River Bank aquifer Aquifer Aquifer Bank aquifer

CP 032 CP 033 CP 034 CP 035 CP 036 CP 032 CP 033 CP 034 CP 035 CP 036 Figure 2. Selected water quality parameters, lower Mzingwane River and associated alluvial aquifer.

Acknowledgements This paper is a contribution to WaterNet Challenge Program Project 17 ‘‘Integrated Water Resource Management for Improved Rural Livelihoods: Managing risk, mitigating drought and improving water productivity in the water scarce Limpopo Basin’’, funded through the CGIAR Challenge Program on Water and Food, with additional funding provided by the International Foundation for Science (Grant W4029-1). The opinions and results presented in this paper are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the donors or participating institutions. The assistance of field assistant Daniel Mkwananzi, farmers Paul Bristow, Rob Smith and Ian Ferguson and the Zimbabwe National Water Authority (Mzingwane Catchment), and the cooperation of the Mzingwane Catchment Council and the District Administrator and Rural District Council of Beitbridge has been essential, and is gratefully acknowledged. Rainfall, evaporation, water releases and dam level data was provided by the Zimbabwe National Water Authority data by the Zhovhe Water Users Association.

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