Why we need a game plan to keep the Great Ruaha flowing

Iringa. Fishermen and their families at Migori Village are not sure if they will spend another day at the village whenever the sun sets.

Their section of the Great Ruaha River(GRR) is almost dry save for a small stream that, however, cannot guarantee their survival through fishing. All the fish has gone with the water.

Further downstream, the water level at Mtera dam is at its lowest, 688.84 metres above sea level (as on Feb 20, 2013) down from the highest level of 698.5 metres.

Its reservoir that extends for 660 square kilometres and holds 3,800 cubic metres of water at full capacity has been reduced to a small river that is now used for generating electricity at Mtera Hydropower Station.

The Tanzania Eletric Supply Company (Tanesco) has thus been forced, at least until March 2013, to run only one of the two turbines that produces less than 40 MW.

Had it not been for other sources of electricity, the country would have been thrown into long hours of power rationing.

The situation upstream is not better; a few metres from Masembe Bridge on the Great Ruaha River section in Ruaha National Park, several hippos fight for space in a small pool surrounded by rocks.

Only crocodiles and fish on the left side of the bridge (upstream side) seem to be living in heaven on earth as here is one of the few sections of the river which has substantial amounts of water even when several other parts are dry.

This is also the place where the Rufiji Basin Water Board (RBWB) has installed gauging equipment, the readings of which tell how much water flows in the GRR.

These are but a few examples of the agony that befalls man and wildlife alike when some parts of the GRR cannot maintain perennial flows.

Although the drying up of some sections of the GRR is not a new phenomenon, it has become severe since the 1990s during which more sections have been drying for longer periods of time, sending devastating consequences to both man and the environment.

There has been increasing public concern on the situation because the river is the lifeline of the Rufiji Basin which is a source of livelihoods for Tanzanians living in ten administrative regions. They include Mbeya, Iringa, Dodoma, Morogoro and Coast regions.

In response to the challenges, local and international institutions have been implementing projects to find out what causes the disjointed flow of the river, particularly during the dry season and what should be done to restore year-round flows, while ensuring that the needs of various water users within the Rufiji Basin are met.

As a result between 1996 and 2003 the River Basin Management and Smallholder Irrigation Improvement Project (RBMSIIP) was conducted.

At about the same time, from 1998 to 2001, the Sustainable Management of the Usangu Wetland and its Catchment (SMUWC) project was implemented.

Two other projects were also implemented during this period: Rufiji Environmental Management Project (REMP 1998 -2003) and Raising Irrigation productivity and Releasing Water for Inter-sectoral Needs (RIPAPWIN 2002 -2005) project.

On the other hand the Ruaha Water Programme (RWP) has been implemented by WWF Tanzania since 2003 todate.

These efforts by various institutions were given a boost by the government’s declaration of commitment made on March 6, 2001to ensure that the GRR would regain its perennial flows by 2010.

“I am delighted to announce that the government of Tanzania is committing its support for a programme to ensure that the Great Ruaha River has a year–round flow by 2010.

The programme broadly aims at integrating comprehensive approaches towards resources planning, development and management so that human activity does not endanger the sustenance of the Great Ruaha ecosystem,” declared Frederick Sumaye, then Tanzania’s prime minister.

Yet with all financial, human and other resources that have been poured into the projects, little has been achieved in terms of restoring year-round flows of The Great Ruaha River.

“The major success we have recorded so far is reducing the number of “dry days” of some sections of the river from 120 to about 20 in a year.

Only in 2009 did the river flow throughout the year and in unexpected turn of events in 2010, the river experienced the longest dry period in history,” explained Idris Msuya, officer in-charge of the Rufiji Basin Water Board, during the Great Ruaha River Catchment National Stakeholders Workshop held in Iringa in February this year.

Among other things, participants to the workshop sought to identify problems behind the disjointed flow of the GRR, suggest strategies to address the problem and translate their commitments into action.

Msuya attributed the 2009 success to the previous year’s government operation to remove pastoralists, farmers and fishermen from water sources within the Ruaha River Catchment, “but it seems we overlooked other factors that affect the flow of water from various sources in the catchment into the Ruaha, hence the dry spell in 2010.”

During the workshop some participants raised several problems as contributing to the failure to restore perennial flows of the GRR.

They included the effects of climate change on water resources and the environment in general as well as the rising demand for water commensurate with the increasing population and rising human activities such as agriculture and industrial production.

“We are using water inefficiently as if we are still in the world of plenty,” noted one of the participants.

However, lack of enforcement of rules and regulations governing the management of water resources and failure to follow up projects came out strongly during discussions.

Participants cited illegal abstractions, unauthorized irrigation canals and overdrawing water for irrigation as some of the problems which contribute strongly to seasonal flows of the GRR.

“We are still witnessing disjointed flows of the Great Ruaha River mainly because of weaknesses among various authorities vested with the responsibility to enforce rules and regulations that govern the use of water in the catchment and Rufiji basin in general.

After restoring year-round flows in 2009, no follow up measures were taken to sustain the situation,” explained Abeid Mwasajone, Deputy Chairman of the Rufiji Basin Water Board.

He said that there is need to scale up law enforcement relating to the management of water resources by supporting leaders at grassroots level such as village executive officers, ward executive officers and village governments in general.

“Government and law enforcers at higher level are too lenient with people who breach rules and regulations. This must change if the Great Ruaha is to flow throughout the year,” he noted.

Former Officer-in-charge of the RBWB, Eng Willy Mwaluvanda, stressed the need for local governments to participate fully in all projects relating to the Great Ruaha River catchment because they are the ones who are supposed to implement the projects, “and they know people who conserve or destroy water sources.

They are better placed than any of us here, to mobilise communities and bring about change in the way they use water.”

He suggested that there should be changes in the strategy to implement projects so that the focus is on all water resources in the Usangu valley instead of concentrating only on specific sub-catchments or wetlands.

Responding to the views of participants, the Programme Officer for WWF Ruaha Water Programme, Christian Chonya, stressed the importance of all water users within the Usangu basin and beyond to take action to ensure not only the rational use of water, but also to bear in mind the need to restore year-round flows of the Great Ruaha River.

“I agree with all the problems that we have identified here. We have also suggested solutions to some of them.

The important thing for us now is to commit ourselves to take action so that these problems are solved,” he said, adding that such actions would be required from all stakeholders; from small scale irrigation farmers to all government ministries that are directly or indirectly related to water issues in the Rufiji basin.

Following the national workshop, a multi-stakeholder meeting attended mainly by small scale irrigation farmers from Mbarali, Mufindi and Iringa districts was held in March this year.

According to RBWB and WWF Ruaha Water Programme who had organised the meeting, the aim was to provide a forum for water users at grassroots level to identify problems behind the seasonal flows of the GRR and suggest measures to be taken to address the situation.

“Studies indicate that the drying up is primarily due to uncontrolled and poor management of water upstream with specific concern on small-scale irrigation rice farming and other agricultural activities."

"The majority of those attending this meeting are involved in these activities. A few come from areas that are being affected by what is happening upstream,” explained Mr Chonya.

“But there is a new dimension to the problem; the rainy season has started and there is plenty of water in some rivers. Yet there is very little water flowing into the Great Ruaha and almost none reaches the Mtera Dam. This is another issue they will discuss and try to find out a solution,” he added.

What was unique about the workshop was that men and women were separately required to identify problems behind the seasonal flows of the GRR and suggest solutions which they could commit themselves to implement or which other stakeholders could implement.

Men identified irrational use of water that does not consider the needs of other users, cultivating close to water sources and some rivers losing their natural courses as major reasons behind the problem.

“We have to remove sand and other materials that have blocked the rivers. Once the rivers flow in their natural courses there should be no problem to fill the Great Ruaha,” suggested Said Muyinga.

For their part the women said communities are not aware of the benefits of conserving wetlands and there was a serious lack of enforcement of existing regulations governing the management of water resources.

“There are a lot of illegal abstractions along rivers. Some people flood their farms with water when they don’t need it and still others do not care to clean their irrigation canals to reduce wastage. All these are against regulations but almost no one has been penalized for their offences,” explained Rose Ngwale.

Commenting on the farmers meeting, the Environment Education Officer for Ruaha Water Programme, Mwamini Massanja said it was successful because special groups were given the opportunity to identify problems and suggest solutions some of which they could implement.

“It was important for women as a special group to identify problems and suggest solutions. The new approach now is to commit all stakeholders to take action and women have an important role to play in conservation and rational use of water,” she said.