Catchment areas to be reclaimed

The Rhodesia Herald, May 18, 1967

THE chairman of the Natural Resources Board, Mr JJ Duvenage, announced at the ICA conference that the Government has made a provision in the draft estimates for the next financial year for the introduction of reclamation measures in the catchment areas of some major dams.

Mr Duvenage told delegates that the greatest limiting factor in the development of Rhodesia’s resources is water and that “we cannot rest until every drop of water is utilised on a sound basis in the agricultural, industrial and mining development of this country”.

To achieve this end, the catchment areas of streams, rivers and dams must be protected. To construct dams and still allow erosion to increase in the catchments is to throw good money after bad.

Unfortunately, most of the catchments of the major dams fall in the tribal areas and require considerable conservation and reclamation measures to safeguard the future of irrigation and industrial projects.

Considerable funds are required to make any real headway on this important task. When dam schemes are planned money must be provided for the protection of catchment even before funds are voted for the dams themselves.

Mr Duvenage said good progress has been made in bush clearing in both European and African farming areas by means of ring-barking and chemical treatment.

The cost of this operation is about seven shillings and six pence an acre.

He warned that there cannot be full recovery of the veld in one year of good rains, and that complete recovery will require careful management and light stocking for several seasons.

Mr Duvenage described the breakup of the common research service provided by the Agricultural Research Council as “real tragedy”. No one with agricultural progress at heart could ever have wished that the work should be continued other than in full co-operation with Rhodesia’s neighbours.

“One is left to conclude that this is the product of a completely destructive intent by those who aim at crippling an economy regardless of any longterm consequences to any section of the Rhodesian community.”

LESSONS FOR TODAY

◆ Catchment areas are critical as they are the ones that provide water that flows into dams. As such, they should be free from clogging.

◆ Some dams such as Mazowe Dam hardly fill up even when the country receives good rains because their catchment areas are clogged up.

◆ Tampering with catchment areas also leads to siltation, which is also a serious problem for some dams, because it reduces the capacity of water that the dams can hold at any one point.

◆ The harnessing of water through dams is critical due to the worsening effects of climate change, which has given rise to the need for irrigation.

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