Browsing Okavango Research Institute (ORI) by Author "Mazvimavi, D."
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Mazvimavi, D.; Mmopelwa, G. (Elsevier, www.elsevier.com/locate/pce, NaN, 2006)[more][less]
Abstract: Lack of access to safe or improved water supply in developing countries is a major global concern, since water is a basic need for sustenance. Programmes aimed at improving access to safe water have been implemented in several sub-Saharan countries. In Botswana, only gazetted settlements have access to water and other basic services provided by the government. This paper examined the level of access to safe water, effort required, and problems encountered in collecting water by households in ungazetted settlements. The paper also investigated whether households in these settlements were willing to pay for improving access to water. The study has been undertaken on settlements located along the Boteti River in the North West District of Botswana. The majority of households in ungazetted settlements satisfy their domestic water requirements through abstracting untreated water from river flows and hand-dug wells when the river is not flowing. Men dominate in collecting water in ungazetted settlements, with the most dominant mode of transporting water being the use of donkey carts. The dominance of men in water collection and use of donkey carts is due to water sources being too distant from homesteads. This has resulted in low water consumption levels, with the per capita water consumption being less than 20 l/capita/ day for most households. Such low levels of water consumption adversely affect attainment of desirable personal hygiene and food preparation. The opportunity cost of time for water collection has been estimated at 1.80 Botswana Pula (P) and the price of water is estimated to be P18/m3 (1.00 P = 0.1755 USD on 18 November 2005). This is higher than the price paid by households residing in rural settlements obtaining water from government or district council water supply schemes. The majority of the households were willing to make a once-off contribution towards improving access to potable water with the mean willingness to pay (WTP) being P161 per household, or just over a third of the statutory agricultural minimum wage in Botswana, P589/month. The potential contribution by household to an improved water supply is significant for a largely unemployed rural population. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10311/502 Files in this item: 1
Mazvimavi2006WaterAccess.pdf (1.377Mb) -
Impact on water quality of land uses along Thamalakane-Boteti River: an outlet of the Okavango DeltaMasamba, W.R.L.; Mazvimavi, D. (Elsevier, July 8, 2008)[more][less]
Abstract: Botswana is a semiarid country and yet has one of the world’s famous wetlands: the Okavango Delta. The Thamalakane- Boteti River is one of the Delta’s outlets. The water quality of the Thamalakane-Boteti River was determined and related to its utilisation. The major land uses along the Thamalakane River within Maun are residential areas, lodges, hotels, and grazing by cattle and donkeys. The water is used as a source of water for livestock, wildlife in a game park, horticulture and domestic applications including drinking. The river is also used for fishing. To check whether these activities negatively impact on the water quality, pH, electrical conductivity, dissolved oxygen, temperature, total dissolved nitrogen and phosphorus, Faecal coliforms and Faecal streptococci and selected metals were determined from July 2005 to January 2006. The pH was near neutral except for the southern most sampling sites where values of up to 10.3 were determined. Dissolved oxygen varied from 2 mg/l to 8 mg/l. Sodium (range 0.6–3.2 mg/l), K (0.3–3.6 mg/l), Fe (1.6–6.9 mg/l) conductivity (56–430 lS/cm) and Mg (0.2–6.7 mg/l) increased with increased distance from the Delta, whereas lead showed a slight decline. Total dissolved phosphorus was low (up to 0.02 mg/l) whereas total dissolved nitrogen was in the range 0.08–1.5 mg/l. Faecal coliform (range 0–48 CFU/100 ml) and Faecal streptococci (40–260 CFU/100 ml) were low for open waters with multiple uses. The results indicate that there is possibility of pollution with organic matter and nitrogen. It is recommended that more monitoring of water quality needs to be done and the sources of pollution identified. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10311/740 Files in this item: 1
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