9 November 2017 | SADC-GMI
SADC-GMI Hosts a Special Event at the 18th WaterNet / WARFSA / GWP-SA Symposium
SADC-GMI’s mandate is to promote sustainable groundwater management and providing solutions to groundwater challenges in the SADC region through creating an enabling policy, legal and regulatory, capacity building, advancing, supporting infrastructure development, and enabling dialogue and accessibility of groundwater information. It is for this mandate that the institute saw it fit to support the 18th WaterNet/WARFSA/GWP-SA Symposium which is one of the biggest platforms in the water sector for the SADC region, which is able to bring together water professionals to present and deliberate on water issues affecting the region. The 18th WaterNet/WARFSA/GWP-SA Symposium was held in Swakopmund Hotel and Entertainment Centre, Namibia, from 25 – 27 October 2017, under the theme “Integrated Water Resources Development and Management: Innovative Technological Advances for Water Security in Eastern and Southern Africa”.
The Symposium is held annually in the Eastern and Southern African regions to promote interaction among policymakers, academics, practitioners from water and related sectors, and cooperating partners.
As part of the symposium, SADC-GMI hosted a special event on “Groundwater Resources Development in the SADC Region”. The objective of the event was to highlight some of the groundwater challenges in the region through research and presentations by regional researchers.
The event was chaired by Thokozani Dlamini, SADC-GMI Communications and Knowledge Management Specialist and repportuered by Brighton Munyai, Consultant – Technical Advisor
The following presenters were part of the session:
- Beatrice Pole from the Department of Water Resources Development – Zambia (Contamination of groundwater by city waste: The case of Chunga Landfill).
- Alice Tembo from the Department of Water Resources Development – Zambia (Making the case for routine use of transient electromagnetic measurements in the sedimentary basins of Zambia).
- Emma Ndhlovu from the Department of Water Resources Development – Zambia (Groundwater quality assessment in the Mazibuka District of Zambia).
- Tshepo Jankie from the University of Botswana – Geology Department (Integrated water supply and hydraulic model for MAUM water supply scheme).
- Modreck Gomo from the University of the Free State – Institute for groundwater studies (Preliminary site investigation of a petroleum hydrocarbon contaminated groundwater).
- Nicholene Kulobone from the Department of Water Affairs and Forestry (A forgotten source for Drought monitoring in semi-arid Namibia)
- Jabulani Gumbo from the University of Venda (Bioremediation of contaminated groundwater originating from Mine Taillings)
- Lamech Chimphero & Rochelle Holme from the University of Mzuzu – Malawi (Community based structures working for functional rural water supply in Nkhata Bay District
The symposium provided SADC-GMI with the opportunity to communicate its brand to potential partners, network with relevant people or institutions within the water sector in the region and beyond. Mr. James Sauramba, SADC-GMI Executive Director in his closing remarks he underscored the importance of groundwater in the SADC region, and said the transboundary aquifer management between member states to enhance sustainable management of groundwater is one of the SADC-GMI mandates.