Managing the water of Kilimanjaro: Water,peasants, and hydropower development

The furrow irrigation systems of Kilimanjaro were first described by European explorers coming to the area by the end of the 19th century. Although being impressed, the German and later the British colonial powers soon came to see the system as wasteful and in need of improvement. Despite several attempts to control water use among the ‘natives’ in the highlands, the furrow system has remained fairly intact and still plays a key role in the local farming systems. However, the utilisation of available water resources is still a highly controversial political issue and in this paper three major challenges to traditional water use are discussed: (i) hydropower development, (ii) construction of large-scale irrigation projects, and (iii) implementation of economic and institutional reforms. All this has led to renewed and intensified conflicts over the use of water on Kilimanjaro as well as in the Pangani river. At one level, the situation can be described as a conflict over access to a scarce resource. However, beyond this perception, the controversies over water are also based on more fundamental ideological conflicts and competing ways of thinking about both development and water management. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Failure of rural schemes in South Africa to provide potable water

The impact of water-borne disease in South Africa is significant. An estimated 43,000 deaths per annum, including 20% of deaths in the 1-5 years age group, are directly attributable to diarrhoeal diseases. Drinking water quality provision in many rural areas is substandard. This paper describes the results of sampling drinking water supplies in rural communities in the Western and Eastern Cape, South Africa. The majority of samples collected failed microbial drinking water quality standards. Overall, schemes dependent on groundwater provided a worse quality water at point of use than surface-water-dependant schemes. This is thought to be the result of pump breakdown, deterioration of the storage and reticulation system, and insufficient monitoring and management of the schemes. Importantly, it is shown that the implementation of well-considered, community accepted drinking-water quality management procedures can effectively change an unacceptable water quality to one that satisfies drinking-water specifications.     

Namibia's orange river boundary — origin and reemerged effects of an inattentive colonial boundary delimination

Conclusion From the above and beside the securing of water rights for the national mining industry, the irrigation clusters scattered as if pearls along the Orange River's N bank are of an obviously unrenouncable significance for the Namibian agricultural production. In any case, it is clearly of utmost importance for Windhoek to secure the possession of the N flood plain by a boundary accord to be reached as soon as possible. This should determine as a minimal solution the border line finally along the low water mark, or, certainly more advantageous for the country, following the rivers median line. Even more so because, in spite of the high costs this would entail due to the lack of infrastructure in the inaccessible Orange gorge, the future extending potential of the irrigation schemes on the N bank are be estimated at least on 7800 ha (Otzen 1989) which is six times the developed irrigation area at the present stage and more than the actual overall Namibian irrigated cultivation area.In order to strengthen the claim to all areas presently disputed between the Republics of Namibia and South Africa and backed by several in international law not binding UN General Assembly resolutions, the Windhoek Constitutional Assembly resolved Article 1 (4) of the new Namibian constitution: The national of Namibia shall consist of the whole of territory recognised by the international community through the organs of the United Nations as Namibia, including the enclave, harbour and port of Walvis Bay, as well as the off-shore islands of Namibia, and its southern boundary shall extend to the middle of the Orange River. Secret negotiations have been taking place since 21st March 1990 but as in the case of the much disputed possession of Walvis Bay, the Republic of South Africa cannot be forced to accept the low water line or the now constitutionally claimed median line as the revised Orange River boundary. South Africa remains internationally unsuable and the small Namibia is presently unable to put pressure on the leading regional power. On the contrary, such a substantial revision of the failures of the late German colonial administration seems only be attainable, if it all, after a phase of positive development in Windhoek, so to be recognised by Pretoria, which then could be result in a voluntary surrender of the South African claim to the N bank to seal then hopefully reached good neighbourly relations between the Republic of South Africa and the recently emerged Republic of Namibia.     

Part-time farming in the Federal Republic of Germany

Part-time farming has to be considered important in the Federal Republic of Germany. Only one half of the agricultural holdings are presently farmed as full-time farms, occupying 77 % of the farmed area. The importance of part-time farming is not associated with the production of agricultural commodities, but is connected with the combination of farming and non-farming activities.In the Federal States of Baden-Württemberg and Saarland there exists a traditional interrrelationship between industry and part-time farming. Other regions, predominantly peripheral middle-range mountain areas with small farms and less favored natural conditions, form other concentrations. As local job opportunities are often non-existant, it means that daily long distance travel to reach off-farm places of employment is necessary.The income situation of part-time farmers can be considered satisfactory. Only 14 % are unable to earn their living entirely from non-farm earnings and consequently depend upon agriculture. According to statements made by part-time farmers their motivation to remain in farming is influenced by the compensation of working in a more natural environment. In view of the present (unsatisfactory) income situation of many small full-time farms, part-time farming is likely to increase in the future and to form a stable element in the agricultural structure of the Federal Republic of Germany.     

Hydrogeological Characterisation And Water-Supply Potential Of Basement Aquifers In Tropical Africa

Crystalline basement rocks, with a mantle of weathered alternation products, occur beneath very extensive areas of tropical Africa. Low-productivity aquifers are widely, but rather unpredictably, present in this formation. They yield small water supplies vital to the rural population for domestic purposes and for livestock watering. On a more localised basis, a potential may exist to develop larger supplies that are adequate for small towns or for small-scale irrigation. This paper reviews advances in the understanding of this extensive hydrogeological system, resulting from British research and experience since 1980.     

Beekeeping and crop farming integration for sustaining beekeeping cooperative societies: a case study in Amathole District,South Africa

Beekeeping has been used with success in several parts of the world to address pervasive poverty. In the last 15 years, the initiative had been used in South Africa; although no evidence of sustainable projects have been found . This study examined the challenges faced by some of the beekeeping cooperative societies (BKCSs) from Ngqushwa, Mnquma and Raymond Mhlaba in the Amathole District of the Eastern Cape Province, South Africa. Data were collected between September and December 2014 and August and November 2015 from eight BKCSs in three local municipalities, using a random sampling technique. The findings revealed poor farm planning and orientation on the part of the farmers, pilfering from and vandalising of apiaries, poor skills training, poor management techniques, and weak agricultural extension support. The study suggests an integrated beekeeping and crop farming model as a viable option.     

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1674987111001290

The Three Gorges Dam(TGD) of the Yangtze River.China,is one of the largest irrigation and hydroelectric engineering projects in the world.The effects of huge man-made projects like TGD on fauna and macrophyte are obvious,mainly through changes of water dynamics and flow pattern;however, it is less clear how microorganisms respond to such changes.This research was aimed to examine differences in microbial diversity at different seasons and locations(in front of and behind the TGD).In addition, differences between particle-attached and free-living communities were also examined.The community structures of total and potentially active microorganisms in the water columns behind and in front of the TGD were analyzed with the DNA- and RNA-based 16S rRNA gene phylogenetic approaches over three different seasons.Clone libraries of 16S rRNA genes were prepared after amplification from extracted DNA and.for some samples,after preparing cDNA from extracted rRNA.Differences were observed between sites at different seasons and between free-living and particle-attached communities.Both bacterial and archaeal communities were more diverse in summer than in winter, due to higher nutrient levels and warmer temperature in summer than in winter.Particle-attached microorganisms were more diverse than free-living communities,possibly because of higher nutrient levels and heterogeneous geochemical micro-environments in particles.Spatial variations in bacterial community structure were observed,i.e..the water reservoir behind the TGD(upstream) hosted more diverse bacterial populations than in front of the dam(downstream),because of diverse sources of sediments and waters from upstream to the reservoir.These results have important implications for our understanding of responses of microbial communities to environmental changes in river ecosystems affected by dam construction.     

After the consent: Re-imagining participatory land governance in Massingir,Mozambique

Massingir district is located in southern Mozambique, bordering South Africa. From the mid-2000s onwards, foreign private and domestic investments in the district have been on the rise in the agribusiness, tourism, and conservation sectors. This has resulted in events that scholars and activists have come to describe as land, water, and green grabs. The on-going discussions have urged the government to fully implement the policy and legal frameworks that oblige investors to undertake community consultations based on the principle of Free and Prior Informed Consent (FPIC) and to safeguard the communities’ land right acquisition. However, little has been clarified about how the consulted communities actually have experienced the consequences of their consent after they agreed to resettle or to concede parts of their communally managed land to investors. This article elaborates on a case study of a community resettled from the Limpopo National Park in Massingir and the neighboring community, which, after struggling to secure land and to improve their livelihood, began to reflect on their initial consent, interact with various actors, and craft strategies for expressing dissent and re-negotiating the deal they had struck. The article argues that the current emphasis on consultation for the purposes of building consent overlooks the importance of paying systemic attention to these strategies that are emerging from the community’s everyday experiences with the consequences of their act of giving consent. Inclusive land governance entails an institutional mechanism that closely responds to people’s experiences with policy practices.     

同位素水化学指示的新疆孔雀河流域地下水与地表水关系

地下水是孔雀河流域农业灌溉的主要水源之一,其对本地区经济发展的支撑作用日益增强。为实现孔雀河流域水资源合理开发和生态保护,采用环境同位素和水化学方法,研究了孔雀河流域地下水与地表水关系。结果表明:地下水的主要补给来源为河水。含水层成因类型和现代河道分布共同控制着孔雀河流域地下咸淡水的空间分布格局;氢氧稳定同位素对不同水体的相互转化指示作用较强,但难以区别更新世与全新世的地下水;3 H和14 C放射性同位素组分对地下水循环演化及更新能力的指示作用较好,14 C年龄变化特征可以很好指示承压水的运移方向和速率;13 C可作为初步判断地下水类型或年龄的参考指示剂;大量渠系引水灌溉使得潜水接受地表水入渗补给能力增强,更新能力显著提高,但承压水目前的开采利用仍以消耗更新能力差的老水为主。当地应优化调整地下水开发格局,减少流域中游河套内农灌区承压水开采量,加大流域下游微咸水分布区潜水开采利用,降低潜水位,减轻土壤盐渍化,促进水土资源开发的良性循环。     

Water dynamics and population pressure in the Nepalese Himalayas

Water is rapidly becoming a critical factor in the development of Nepal despite the fact that it has one of the greatest hydro-power potentials in the world. The country is faced with three key water issues: hazardous hydro-power development, problems with community water supply and pollution, and shortages of irrigation water. Both the environmental settings and the socio-economic conditions have contributed to these problems which are now widespread and alarming. Environmental factors have not been taken seriously as shown in the largest existing hydropower reservoir, which has recently lost much of its storage capacity in a single unusual storm. Shortages in water supplies in the capital city are also reaching crisis proportions both in terms of quantity and quality. The widespread lack of irrigation water in the Middle Mountains during the dry season has serious implications for the future food supplies of the largely rural population. Some of these problems result from a rapidly expanding population living in a very marginal environment, an ineffective government organization and an international community that is mostly self-serving, focussing on large projects with little concern for local needs. The degradation of water resources is putting the food supplies and health of a large part of the population at risk.     

黑河流域节水生态农业与流域水资源集成管理研究领域

概述了中国内陆河流域面临的水问题和日益激化的用水矛盾,强调了内陆河地区支柱产业——绿洲农业应该坚持节水和生态的方向,流域集成管理是持续农业的基础。长期从事该方面研究的黑河流域是个较好借鉴,同时也提供了深入开展相关研究的基础,为此提出了以黑河流域为背景的四大研究流域：水文、生物、经济系统水循环与水资源形成演变,节水农业的生物学研究与抗旱品种繁育,农业节水新材料研发与工程节水技术集成,水资源合理配置与流域集成管理;并简述了各领域的主要方向。     

Opportunities and eco-environmental influence of cascade hydropower development and water diversion projects in Hanjiang river basin

Hanjiang river is the longest river in Yangtze river basin, having high economic importance to China for its economically exploitable hydropower and potential water resources. In an attempt to satisfy China’s economic and social development needs, the Chinese government has established cascade dams and four relative water diversion projects in Hanjiang river, which aims at transferring water from south (Hanjiang river) to north (water-stricken areas). However, there are increasing eco-environmental concerns associated with the establishment and development of cascade hydropower. In this study, the opportunities and eco-environmental influences related to Hanjiang river’s cascade hydropower development are explored and then recommendations are put forward to minimize the potential impacts. The implementation of vigorous projects related to hydropower and water diversion has an important role to play in solving flood, energy and water shortage problems. In addition, the eco-environmental and socio-economic impacts on the middle and downstream and its diversion can be relieved to some degree in the area. However, the establishment of projects can cause several impacts on the local eco-environment. First, Danjiangkou reservoir construction can cause change in water flow, water bloom, soil erosion in the river basin. Second, it can directly lead to the decrease of 10.5 billion cubic meters of water in the middle- and downstream areas, threatening the local supply of drinking water and influencing farming irrigation and industrial production. Finally, the construction of cascade hydropower dams can change the water form and fish stocks may reduce threatening eco-environment security and environmental geology.     

Fog harvesting: An alternative source of water supply on the West Coast of South Africa

Experiments conducted during the 1990s investigated the feasibility of using fog water to supplement existing water supplies in the arid west coast region of South Africa. Based on these results, a project was initiated aimed at implementing an operational fog water collection system to provide potable water to a small, water-poor rural community. A 70 m² fog water collector was subsequently erected on the crest of the hill located next to the mission station called Lepelfontein. The volume of water collected was measured by means of a water flow meter and a tipping bucket. An automatic weather station recorded rainfall, wind speed and direction. The data record spans the period September 1999–August 2001. This paper gives a brief overview of the methods used to select the experimental site and describes the design of the fog water collection system. This is followed by a detailed account of the water yields, the contribution of fog and rainfall to the total yield, the characteristics of wet events, the factors associated with water collection and water quality. On average, yields of around 4.6 l of water were collected per square metre of collecting surface per day with maximum daily yields approaching 4000 l. The quality of the water was excellent. It thus appears that fog water collection may have considerable potential as an alternative water source at many other locations on the west coast of South Africa. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Rural land use and agricultural production in Dinokana Village,Bophuthatswana

In recent years geographers have researched the problems of many rural areas of the third world. However, analysis of rural and agricultural development in the Bantustans of South Africa has been conspicuously absent. Although mythically independent, the Bantustans have their own Departments of Agriculture, as well as parastatal bodies, which develop and implement agricultural policies. This paper examines agricultural policy in the Bophuthatswana Bantustans, which is largely based on increasing food production for national self-sufficiency through the establishment of agricultural development projects. The effects of the implementation of this programme on a specific rural community, the village of Dinokana, are discussed. Two irrigation based projects were implemented in Dinokana in the early 1980's. The project planners did not seem to be concerned about the existence of an indigenous irrigation system which had been the foundation for agricultural development at Dinokana for several decades, and which could have been revived and upgraded. This suggests that there is a need for agricultural planners to have a detailed historial knowledge of local African agriculture. Geographers could play a valuable role here, by uncovering the dynamics of past systems of African agricultural production, in particular focusing on patterns of rural resource management.     

山西汾河水环境与污染治理

汾河是山西的主要河流，污染严重，环境问题十分突出。为控制汾河水污染，需对重点源进行强化治理。本文共筛选治理项目８９个，共需投资１３．０２亿元。治理完成后，２０００年汾河主要污染物ＣＯＤ可削减９２３１２．４ｔ／ａ，ＳＳ３３９３１ｔ／ａ。届时源头水可达到功能要求，中下游水质可接近农灌田水标准。     

Part-time farming in Norway

Conclusion Despite changes during the part thirty years, part-time farming seems certain to remain a dominant feature of Norwegian agriculture well into the future. Environmental conditions and the size structure of Norwegian farms would alone be sufficient to guarantee this. But the survival of part-time farming is likely to be further assisted by an agricultural policy which seeks, inter alia, the continuing development of agriculture on small farms and in marginal areas in order to maximize the use of scarce resources of agricultural land and maintain population and settlement in the more peripheral regions.     

沟灌土壤水分运动数值模拟与入渗模型

为进一步探明沟灌二维土壤水分运动规律,以非饱和土壤水分运动理论为基础,建立了沟灌土壤水分运动数学模型,用多组试验资料对模型模拟结果进行验证,两者基本吻合,表明模型可用于模拟沟灌二维土壤水分入渗过程.用所建模型对不同因素组合下沟灌土壤湿润体特性进行模拟分析,结果表明:土壤初始含水率、沟间距对沟灌累积入渗量影响较小,土壤质地、容重、沟底宽和沟中水深对其影响较为显著;沟底宽、土壤初始含水率对土壤湿润体水分分布影响较小,土壤质地、容重对其影响较大,沟间距、沟中水深对其影响主要在零通量面附近,当入渗发生交汇后,零通量面处垂向湿润锋运移加快.以此为基础,建立了包含湿周在内的沟灌累积入渗量计算模型.     

Race, space and place in suburban Durban: an ethnographic assessment of gated community environments and residents

This paper explores gated community culture and development in the suburbs of North Durban in the KwaZulu-Natal province of South Africa. Using perspectives from the anthropology of space and place as a theoretical and methodological framework, ethnographic fieldwork in one community in this area explores the cultural reasoning behind the movement to a fortified suburban enclave in South Africa by problematizing why, in a newly democratic society based on an ethos of desegregation, do individuals feel the need to segregate themselves along class and racial lines in fortified developments in a fashion reminiscent of homeland demarcation during apartheid? And, is the movement to gated communities within post-apartheid South Africa solely a white cultural and class phenomenon? While these questions are necessary, and perhaps commonsensical in terms of the unique social history of South Africa, research also attempts to complicate these lines of inquiry to apprehend the cultural reasoning and lifestyles of gated community residents to move past racial and class stereotypes and delve into the complex culture of these environments and the different rationalizations that individuals work with to justify their surroundings.     

Application of the European water framework directive in a Western Mediterranean basin (Málaga,Spain)

The water framework directive (WFD) is applied within the Guadalhorce river basin, a Western Mediterranean basin in the Málaga province (South Spain). Criteria defining different surface and groundwater bodies are described. The basic hydrographic network is constituted of low-mountain and low-altitude Mediterranean mineralized rivers. Heavily modified surface water bodies correspond (1) to areas where dams regulate the main watercourses, (2) to areas downstream of reservoirs, where river flow is reduced, and (3) to the coastal sector of the river where artificial channelling has caused morphological variations. Groundwater bodies are related to carbonate and porous aquifers and, locally, to aquifers influenced by dissolution of evaporites. The main impacts to water bodies are irrigated lands and livestock farming. There are also point sources of pollution, such as wastewater, landfills, golf courses, industrial zones, quarries and petrol stations. In addition, groundwater is frequently pumped for human supply and irrigation. Qualitative status of groundwater bodies was done by chemical analysis of samples from a monitoring network and the quantitative status by examining variations in piezometric levels. Both revealed the existence of water bodies at risk of not meeting the environmental objectives of the WFD. The main indicators of pollution are nitrates related to agricultural activities, and total organic carbon (TOC), PO₄³⁻ and NH₄⁺ in relation to wastewater.     

Uraniferous waters of the Arkansas River valley,Colorado, U.S.A.: a function of geology and land use

The effect of local geology and land-use practices on dissolved U was investigated by analysis of surface water and some springs in the Arkansas River valley of southeastern Colorado. Water samples were collected during a 2 week period in April, 1991. The rate of increase of U concentration with distance downriver increased markedly as the river flowed from predominantly undeveloped lands underlain by igneous and metamorphic rocks to agriculturally developed lands underlain by marine shale and limestone. An additional abrupt increase in dissolved U was observed along the section of river where discharge is often greatly reduced because of extensive diversions for irrigation and where remaining flow is largely composed of irrigation return water. Dissolved U in this last section of river and in most of its tributaries exceeded the proposed U.S. drinking water standard of 20 μ/L In water samples collected from agricultural areas dissolved U showed strong positive correlation with major dissolved constituents Na, Ca, Mg, and SO₄ that increase as a result of sulfate mineral dissolution and clay mineral ion-exchange reactions in weathered shale bedrock and shaley soils. Highly soluble minor and trace elements Cl, Li, B, Sr, and Se that are not subject to strong sorptive uptake or precipitation in this setting also correlated positively with U. These combined observations indicate that natural leaching of U-bearing shale bedrock and derivative soils, additional leaching of rock and soil by irrigation water, and evaporative concentration in a semi-arid climate can produce concentrations of dissolved U in surface water and shallow ground water that may threaten nearby drinking water supplies. Other agriculturally developed areas of the semi-arid Western U.S. with similar geology are likely to contain high concentrations of U in irrigation drain water.