The Influence of Groundwater Management Strategies On
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THE INFLUENCE OF GROUNDWATER MANAGEMENT STRATEGIES ON GROUNDWATER LEVELS OF NAMIBIAN SAVANNAH AQUIFERS A THESIS SUBMITTED IN FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF SCIENCE (APPLIED GEOLOGY) OF THE UNIVERSITY OF NAMIBIA BY ESTER MWHADHINA NDAHAFA NUUNYANGO 200419421 APRIL 2019 SUPERVISOR: Dr. Heike Wanke (University of Namibia) CO - SUPERVISOR: Ms. Shoopala Uugulu (University of Namibia) ABSTRACT Namibia has been known as water scarce, attributing mostly to its geographic location and primarily because of the limited surface water as well as the high potential evaporation rates beyond 2000 mm/year. Groundwater therefore quickly becomes crucial, most of which is located in aquifers in the savannah biome which covers a large part of the country. This is also where most industrialization as well as most farming is practiced. It is however unknown how these savannah aquifers are managed on a local scale and how the management strategies influence the long term groundwater levels of the aquifers. To understand these strategies, three research sites along a rainfall gradient, namely Tsumeb area, Waterberg and Kuzikus area were studied. Through means of a self-developed questionnaire tailored for the government officials and farmers, five (5) interviews were conducted with government officials at DWAF. Across all three research sites a total of seventeen (17) farmers were interviewed. For the scientific groundwater management strategy, the sustainable yield was calculated using the catchment area and the recharge of the area. The short-term volume available was calculated for each research site using the formula Volbal = G*Sy (ϕave - ϕmin). The quantitative data from these four strategies were modeled using the Processing MODFLOW modelling software. The results show that the government strategy employed makes use of the Water Act no 54 of 1956. In comparison with the regulatory guidelines such as carrying capacity, many farmers abstract greater volumes per Small and Large livestock unit per hectare. However they have a similar influence on the groundwater levels over time when compared to the government policy guided strategy. The influence on groundwater levels by the farmer and policy guided strategies are well within the scientific sustainable yield strategy. ii LIST OF CONFERENCE(S) PROCEEDINGS 1. Nuunyango. E. & Wanke H. (2017) ‘Water Management Impacts. OPTIMASS Conference. Windhoek, Namibia, July 2017. 2. Nuunyango. E. & Wanke, H. (2017) ‘Groundwater Management Options in Namibian Savannah Aquifers. 5th Science Research Conference of the University of Namibia. Windhoek, Namibia. November 2017. iii Table of Contents ABSTRACT ........................................................................................................................ ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS .............................................................................................. xii DECLARATION ............................................................................................................. xiv 1 INTRODUCTION ....................................................................................................... 1 1.1 Orientation of the study ........................................................................................ 1 1.2 Study areas ................................................................................................................ 2 2 LITERATURE REVIEW ............................................................................................ 5 2.1 Groundwater management ................................................................................... 5 2.2 Groundwater Management in Namibia ................................................................ 6 2.3 Particular Importance of Groundwater Management in Namibia ........................ 9 2.4 Groundwater management laws in Namibia ........................................................... 14 2.5 Carrying Capacity for Namibia .......................................................................... 18 2.6 Groundwater availability assessments through safe yield.................................. 20 2.7 Aquifer properties .............................................................................................. 23 2.8 Groundwater modelling...................................................................................... 34 2.9 Background of the Research Areas ......................................................................... 39 2.9.1 Overview of Research Area 1 .............................................................................. 39 2.9.1.1 Physiography ................................................................................................. 39 2.9.1.2 Geology ......................................................................................................... 40 2.9.1.3 Hydrogeology ................................................................................................ 43 2.9.2 Overview of Research Site 2 .......................................................................... 49 2.9.2.1 Physiography ................................................................................................. 49 2.9.2.2 Geology ......................................................................................................... 49 2.9.2.3 Hydrogeology ................................................................................................ 51 2.9.3 Overview of Research Site 3 .......................................................................... 52 2.9.3.1 Physiography ................................................................................................. 52 2.9.3.2 Geology ......................................................................................................... 57 2.9.3.3 Hydrogeology ................................................................................................ 60 3 STATEMENT OF THE RESEARCH PROBLEM ................................................... 63 3.1 Limitations of the study........................................................................................... 64 4 OBJECTIVES ............................................................................................................ 64 5. HYPOTHESIS OF THE STUDY .............................................................................. 65 6. MATERIALS AND METHODOLOGY................................................................... 65 6.1 General research design .......................................................................................... 65 6.1.1 Interviews ....................................................................................................... 67 6.1.1.1 Questionnaire Development .................................................................... 67 6.1.1.2 Conducting of Interviews .............................................................................. 67 6.1.2 Compilation of Existing Data ............................................................................... 68 6.1.3 Estimation of the Abstraction Strategies ........................................................ 70 6.1.3.1 Farmer’s Abstraction Strategy ....................................................................... 70 6.1.3.2 .Government guided Abstraction Strategy .................................................... 71 6.1.3.3 Sustainable Yield Abstraction Strategy ......................................................... 71 6.1.3.4 Volume Balance/ Short-term available volume Abstraction Strategy ........... 72 6.1.4 Groundwater modelling .................................................................................. 73 iv 7 RESULTS .................................................................................................................. 83 7.1 Interviews ................................................................................................................ 83 7.2 Compilation of Existing Data .................................................................................. 88 7.2.1. Hydrogeologic Parameters .............................................................................. 88 7.2.2 Computed Volume balance .............................................................................. 90 7.3 Estimation of Abstraction Strategies ....................................................................... 92 7.3.1 Farmer’s Abstraction ........................................................................................ 92 7.3.2 Government Guided Abstractions .................................................................... 92 7.3.3 Comparison of Annual Abstraction Volume between Government Guided Abstraction and Farmers Abstraction for SSU and LSU ........................................... 93 7.3.3 Sustainable yield Abstraction ........................................................................... 98 7.3.4 Short-term Volume Available .......................................................................... 99 7.3.5 Comparison between annual abstraction volumes of farmers and of carrying capacity guided abstractions .................................................................................... 100 7.4 Modeling Results................................................................................................... 101 7.4.1 Single Borehole Models ................................................................................. 104 7.4.2 Entire Farm Models .......................................................................................