Panel 6A:
Large Dams and Water Resources Management:Reviewing Alternate Options

Dr. Guy Preston
Ministry of Water Affairs and Forestry, South Africa
The Working for Water Programme: Case Studies on the Clearing of Invasive Species and Demand-side Management

Strategic planning with thought for all solutions is required for the best use of any country's water supply. Dr. Preston, while not denying the importance dams play in development, outlined two alternatives being applied in South Africa. He detailed the government instigated Working for Water programme which removes alien trees from the catchment and basin of existing dams. This immediately increases the yield to existing dams and has the longer-term benefit of decreasing the rate of infiltration of the alien trees (mitigating their future water consumption). Targeted at the "poorest of the poor", the programme has the added benefit of being a successful training and employment creation initiative, employing 42 000 people at its peak and contributing to the "de-radicalisation" of South Africa. Secondly, demand side-management techniques used in Hermanus and by Durban Metro are discussed. The success of both of these pilot tests, though constrained to urban areas with larger consumption, is allowing the South African Department of Water Resources to consider demand-side management in its strategic planning for the entire country.

Dr Preston believes that the roles of demand-side management and alien species reduction as alternatives to dams has as much relevance to the rest of Africa and the Middle East as it does in South Africa.

Catchment management is a water supply option. Estimates are that 4% of the world GDP is lost through invasive alien plant species which are linked to the characteristics of water runoff in river basins. In South Africa it is a major factor influencing the amount of water flowing in the catchment and covers 10% of the country's catchment area. Removal is an option to increasing flows in rivers. Looking holistically at the opportunities for development in the basin. Lessons learned include the use of watershed management for both national and international river basins. Demand side management and efficient use of water have many dimensions. Lessons learned including information and awareness coupled with socially just pricing strategies. Past experience suggests that looking at water needs also involves looking at the distribution of impacts.

Ms. Noxolo Olive Sephuma
Okavango Liaison Group, Botswana
The Southern Okavango Integrated Water Development Project - Lessons Learnt

The Okavango River meanders 100 km across the Kalahari Desert creating a myriad of channels, lagoons, lakes, islands, marsh making up the wetland of Okavango delta. In 1991, the government of Botswana initiated the southern Okavango Integrated Water Development project, which involved dredging the main channel of the Okavango delta and building three dams along the southern end of the river. The SOIWDP entailed surface water development through the channelisation of 45KM stretch of the Boro River, construction of three dams and a pipeline to the Diamond mines of Orapa and Letlhakane.

Ms. Sephuma indicated that the project proposition was not considered acceptable to the community living in the Okavango delta. Based on their earlier experiences with similar dredging operations, the community expressed considerable scepticism regarding the environmental impacts, expected outputs and stated goals of the project. Along with the community, the conservation organisations, eco-tourism operators and concerned individuals feared for the sustainability of the delta on the implementation of the planned project. With the deadline of implementation, three days away, the Minister of Mineral Resources and Water Affairs met the community in a kgotla meeting to debate the issue and solicit the views of the local community regarding the project. In Botswana the right to participate in decision-making is enshrined in the democratic kgotla system. In January 1991, the local community exercised their democratic right by voicing the opposition to the Boro Dredging project.

Following the community decision, the government suspended the proposal and invited the IUCN to conduct an independent review of the project. The independent review concluded that the negative impacts from the project in terms of loss of arable land, grazing land, floodplain, the basis of community subsistence, far outweighed the benefits. The IUCN review considered this issue a critical reason for the termination of the project.

Ms. Sephuma suggested that among the lessons learned include the need to have independent review and discussion of project feasibility studies. Secondly, she also suggested that government should be receptive to validation results from a fair and open process.

Mr. A Gassama
Commissariat a l'Apres-Barrages (CAB), Senegal
Management Options of an Existing Dam: the Manantali Case

The development of the Senegal River Valley has a long history which has been the subject of many debates, studies and projects in particular on irrigated farming. Senegal, Mali and Mauritania decided to work together in a regional association founded in 1972 - l'Organisation pour la mise en valeur du fleuve Senegal - to implement an integral regional management plan.

Between 1981 and 1986, the Diama Dam and the Manantali Dam were built. They are multipurpose, and have allowed more than 375 000 ha of land to be irrigated in Senegal, Mauritania and Mali, and will lead in the future to the production of 800 million kWh of hydroelectric power. They will also hopefully enhance river based navigation.

The Management Plan for the Integrated Development of the Left Bank of the Senegal River (PDRG) was developed to make sure that an integrated sustainable approach was adopted in the development of the water resources of the Senegal River in Senegal. Its main priorities of action are as follow:

• food security
• to conserve traditional activities, in creating artificial flooding to maintain flood recession farming
• ecosystem restoration and conservation
• to implement a policy framework for irrigated agriculture including direct participation by all stakeholders, and
• to promote the private sector and decrease the role of the public sector

Among the different options, and based on the analysis of the Government in co-operation with the World Bank, the PDRG has chosen the one that gives maximum irrigated surface area without a prejudicial impact on the other possible uses.

Solidarity between Mali, Mauritania and Senegal was clearly demonstrated by the building of Diama and Manantali Dams that have greatly contributed to the economic and social development of these countries. Senegal has now developed and integrated a master plan for the development of the left bank of the Senegal River which should give a new impetus to the local regional economy, by managing the water resources in a sustainable and well balanced manner.

Among the lessons learned was that co-operation among riparian countries sharing a river basin in all stages of conceptualisation and planning for the beneficial use of water can lead to more optimal development of water resources in a basin. This can increase mutual understanding of the issues and concerns of all parties.

Mr. Arif Gamal
University of California, Sudan
Kajabar: Damning Nubia

Kajabar is a village located on the Nile in the Northern Province of Sudan. It lies at the junction of the Third Cataract in the heart of Nubian Mahas region and is about 111km north of Dongla town that is the capital of the Northern Province. About five years ago, the Government of Sudan (GOS) proposed to construct a dam there to enhance development. The total storage capacity of Kajabar Dam is estimated to be around 188 million cubic meters, enough to flood and drown the entire region south of Kajabar and up to the town of Golid and Komi's island. Approximately 1.5 million people will be displaced. This news has caused anxiety not only to the Nubians and the Sudanese, but also engineers, scientists, environmentalists, and human right activists.

Mr. Gamal indicated that the four main areas of concern are: the effects on the area's agro-ecosystem, aquatic and land biodiversity, cultural considerations, and the loss of an important heritage site. The area proposed to be flooded by Kajabar's reservoir has some of the world's richest soils. For thousands of years, these soils have provided Nubians with sustainable farming producing crops such as wheat, beans, and potatoes. The proposed flooding of these soils has posed serious concerns for the affected villages. The amount of water extending into the desert will pose negative impacts on the flora and fauna of the surrounding region. The change in the ecosystem will threaten the population of indigenous species and bring on harmful ones such as mosquitoes, carriers of the malaria vector. The essence of the Nubian culture revolves around the 'date palm.' They are regarded and cared for with reverence and to Nubians, date palms are 'quasi humans.' The inundation of more than 5 million date palms will certainly be devastating to Nubians. Because Nubia is considered an important cultural heritage site, building a dam in that region has incensed both the indigenous people and archaeological experts. There are temples and artifacts that are of historical, cultural and archaeological importance. Flooding due to the dam project will threaten their legacies.

Mr. Gamal said that there is currently intense opposition to building the dam. The most vocal of these is the "National Committee to Save Nubians and the Nubian Heritage." They have categorically refused compensation or repatriation from the region. They state that the people have not been properly consulted and that no environmental, economic, or social assessments have been done. As a result, he suggests alternatives to the dam such as solar energy while emphasising that the technology exists, but the will to pursue such alternatives does not.

Commissioners' question time

The question period for Panel 6A was delayed until the end of Panel 6B.

Summary of panel 6a

• In many settings, watershed management pursued in a holistic way represent an important water supply option. South Africa's experience suggests that in circumstances similar to their own it is feasible to achieve equitable development of rural areas while improving runoff to increase flows in rivers (10% in the South Africa case).



• Independent review of the feasibility studies of projects is essential and such review processes must involve the project-affected communities in a genuine manner.



• Co-operation among riparian countries sharing a river basin in all stages of conceptualization and planning for the beneficial use of water can lead to more optimal development of water resources in a basin, increase mutual understanding of the issues and limit the potential for conflict.