You are in: RIPARWIN HomePage

 

THIS PROJECT HAS NOW CLOSED AND THIS WEBSITE IS A REPOSITORY OF SOME OF ITS DOCUMENTS

What is RIPARWIN?

RIPARWIN is an abbreviation of “Raising Irrigation Productivity And Releasing Water for Intersectoral Needs”, which is a study of river basin management in the Great Ruaha River, Tanzania. It is a DFID-funded research project implemented by the:

Soil-Water Management Research Group (SWMRG) - Sokoine University of Agriculture (SUA), Tanzania

Overseas Development Group (ODG) - University of East Anglia (UEA), United Kingdom

International Water Management Institute (IWMI) - through its Africa Regional Office, South Africa

 

RIPARWIN is a successor to a previous DFID-funded project, Sustainable Management of Usangu Wetland and its Catchment (SMUWC). SMUWC was conducted to enhance understanding of the natural resource use and environmental functions of the Usangu Wetland of the Great Ruaha River Basin. RIPARWIN looks more closely at water management, irrigation productivity and intersectoral water allocation, and in particular examines the theory that if irrigation productivity can be raised then water can be released to meet downstream and intra/intersectoral needs. The overall aim is to work with all stakeholders to develop a coherent and integrated water resource management strategy.

In the Usangu Basin (the Great Ruaha River sub-basin of the Rufiji River Basin), water users are:

  1. irrigated and rainfed farming;
  2. domestic water users;
  3. cattle-keepers in the grasslands and wetlands;
  4. seasonal and permanent wetlands (fisher people and wildlife);
  5. the Ruaha National Park downstream of the basin; and
  6. the Mtera-Kidatu hydroelectricity generation stations downstream of the basin.

Allocating water between these different users is the challenge facing river basin managers and stakeholders today in the basin.

RIPARWIN aims to challenge and develop river basin management theory by answering the following questions:

What will new ideas of irrigation productivity and efficiency tell us about the scope and means of saving water to meet intersectoral needs?

Do fashionable reallocation devices (e.g. water rights and fees) meet their desired objectives?

Should supply solutions be considered?

Should water flow to the sector that create the highest economic return or should we recognise a pro-poor livelihoods priority?

How should the benefits of upstream agricultural development be valued in the context of water requirements by other sectors?

Can all users including the environment and hydroelectric power generation adopt demand management?

Can locally nested solutions be applied to meet downstream shortages that may be more efficient from livelihood, water availability, and institutional, and cost perspectives?

 

Location:

Great Ruaha River Basin, Tanzania - See map

 

Important outputs include:

Capacity Building in Integrated River Basin Management

Conflict mediation research with farmers and other stakeholders

Formulation of a river basin management decision-aide to examine trade-offs of various water allocation scenarios

Website, reports, articles and information sheets

 

Initial findings:

It is early days, but we believe our results that show that rice irrigation efficiency is not as low as commonly believed and that savings are not likely to be significant. In addition, observations show that most water is divided between users during periods of peak flows by natural river-based means. This outcome signals that intersectoral allocation of bulk volumes of water is a lower management priority than attending to lifeline needs of domestic, livelihood and environmental sectors during the dry season where smaller quantities of water are required that are well placed, timely and are of high quality. The case study indicates that the efficacy of river basin management might best be judged by an ability to attend to local and micro-scale issues that are normally below the 'radar' when compared to perceived macro inequities in supply.

Associted Works

 

RIPARWIN Project. 2001-2004. All Rights Reserved. Updated on 21 November 2004.