Mp. Mccartney et Ha. Houghtoncarr, MODELING APPROACH TO ASSESS INTER-SECTORAL COMPETITION FOR WATER-RESOURCES IN THE KAFUE FLATS, ZAMBIA, Journal of the Chartered Institution of Water and Environmental Management, 12(2), 1998, pp. 101-106
The Kafue River joins the Zambezi River just below Kariba dam. Upstrea
m from its confluence with the Zambezi, it flows through the primary s
ugar-cane producing region of the Kafue Flats and then through Kafue G
orge where there is an important hydro-electric power station. These d
ifferent activities compete for limited surface-water resources. An ev
aluation of existing water resources and their ability to cope with fu
ture demands and different operating policies is made difficult becaus
e of the intricacy of the hydrological system and the limited availabi
lity of long-term reliable data series. In this study, complex site-sp
ecific models, traditionally regarded as the answer to such problems,
were discarded in favour of a standard, relatively simple reservoir-si
mulation model. The model was successfully used to simulate the presen
t conditions and test a possible future water-use scenario.