This was the conclusion of national water experts, who met in Botswana for a two-day conference on groundwater management.

 

They acknowledged the processes and successes already achieved by the region, but agreed that more can be done to manage water resources in a holistic manner.

 

The processes include the Regional Strategic Action Plan for Integrated Water Resources Development and Management, and the Southern African Development Community (SADC) Protocol on Shared Watercourses.

 

Participants at the conference, jointly organised by SADC and the African Ministers Council on Water (AMCOW), agreed that groundwater management continues to have many impediments such as poor appreciation of the trans-boundary role of groundwater and availability of information, which together have a region-wide impact on social and economic development.

 

It became evident during the conference that some of these challenges stem from a widespread lack of understanding of the role of groundwater in national and regional development objectives, resulting in limited attention and focus.

 

However, the SADC Executive Secretary, Tomaz Salomão, said the centrality of water to SADC in terms of addressing the region’s overarching objectives is not in question, but groundwater remains little appreciated despite being a source of potable water for about 70 percent of the region’s 250 million people.

 

"[Groundwater is] an important resource that although less understood due to its occurrence underground should be well managed and conserved to ensure its availability for future generations," Salomão said, in a speech read on his behalf by the Director for Infrastructure and Services (I&S) at the SADC Secretariat, Remmy Makumbe.

 

"The SADC Protocol on Shared Watercourses recognises groundwater as an integral part of Integrated Water Resources Management [IWRM], which is one of our key programmes," he said, adding that the management of groundwater is being incorporated into river management programmes as part of SADC’s Regional Indicative Strategic Development Plan (RISDP).

 

"Our resolve to meet the Millennium Development Goals as a region is a must and this conference is one of the means to an end in an attempt to achieve these. Our scorecard suggests that we are on track but we need to do more," he said.

 

Salomão added that there is need for greater understanding of groundwater, its management, use and protection to prepare for challenges ahead in the availability of water.

 

The senior programme manager for water in the SADC Directorate for Infrastructure and Services, Phera Ramoeli, said groundwater remains largely undervalued and should be placed on the regional agenda in this regard.

 

"Economic valuation of water is still a process that will take a long time and we need to be able to demonstrate to policy makers that water is a basic resource that we can’t do without."

Ramoeli also reminded the participants about the gender dimensions of water supply, as women and children continue to bear the burden of limited access to water.

 

The conference stressed the importance of coordination at a regional level, as a key to ensuring proper implementation of the groundwater initiative, and encouraged member states to share information on groundwater management.

 

Participants strongly recommended a more aggressive approach in bringing groundwater into river basin agreements and addressing the institutionalisation of groundwater at regional level.

They resolved to take advantage of 2009, which is the year for Transboundary Water Management, to strengthen groundwater management and confront the persistent lack of capacity for groundwater resources management at all levels through the building of strategic partnerships and emphasising groundwater’s social and economic role.

 

SADC Ministers responsible for water met in November in Tanzania where they called for the scaling up of programmes to improve water access for SADC citizens as a priority.

They registered the recognition of water as a prerequisite for socio-economic development and as a key catalytic factor in the regional integration process.

 

The SADC region is characterised by a large number of shared watercourses (15) and a number of transboundary groundwater bodies (shared aquifers). Aquifers account for over 70 percent of the region’s renewable water resources.

 

Although the occurrence of these resources varies both spatially and in duration, groundwater accounts for almost 60 percent of water sources to which the majority of the rural population depends, in particularly in times of drought.

 

Sustainable use of groundwater therefore has the potential to provide alternative strategies in the fight against poverty in a region where the demands for water continue to rise. - sardc.net