Botswana University of Agriculture
and Natural Resources
Department of Agricultural and
Biosystems Engineering (ABE)
ELB 360: Irrigation Water Supply and
Conveyance
Lecture 1: Introduction: Hydrological Cycle
and Drainage Basins of Botswana
Terminology and definitions
• Irrigation: The artificial application of water to a growing crop in order to
avoid stress due to inadequate rainfall, with the objective of increasing the
yield.
• Irrigation may be total (where there is no rainfall) or supplemental (where rainfall is
not adequate to support crop growth to maturity).
• Water Supply: in irrigated agriculture, this refers to provision of water in
response to a demand to satisfy the irrigation needs. The water is supplied
from suitable sources that would have been identified during the planning
stages of the project. The efficiency of the system should be considered –
being the effectiveness of the water transmission from the source to the
irrigation scheme, and its optimal application to satisfy crop water
requirements grown on the farm. The latter implies that water wastage is
minimized.
Terminology and definitions cont.
• Conveyance: this refers to the ‘transport or the carrying system’ of the
water from the time it is diverted from its source, through its transmission
until it is delivered at the farm where it is needed. Examples of a
conveyance system may include the following (which may or may not be
used together):
• Natural river channels
• Reservoirs and other storage structures
• Constructed canals
• Diversion, measurement and control structures
• Tunnels and qanats – and related underground structures
• Aqueducts and flumes
• Pumping or gravity-fed intakes
• Pipe transmission and distribution systems
Water supply-conveyance system: illustration 1
Water supply-conveyance system: illustration 2
Terminology and definitions cont.
• Therefore in summary, water supply for agriculture usually requires:
• The identification of a suitable source of water, its development, diversion of
the water resource in the desired or required quantities, and in rare
circumstances, installation of a basic treatment system to suit the
requirements.
• The transmission or conveyance to where it is needed; its distribution, and
delivery for consumption. Storage of water is often included as appropriate –
to meet the demand and/or to conserve the resource.
• Several structures and systems have to be planned, designed and constructed
to economically supply (off-take, treat, convey, control, measure and store)
water. Some of these structures will be encountered during this course.
The hydrological cycle
• It is essential to appreciate that the water supply is abstracted from
one component or another of the ‘water continuum or cycle’.
• The natural circulation of water from one part of the earth to the
other is called the water, or hydrological, or hydrologic cycle.
• It forms the hydrosphere as a system of the earth, and integrates it
with the other spheres – lithosphere, biosphere and atmosphere.
• Stocks of water available for use are the water resources, which as
noted in the foregoing slides, is abstracted from surface and ground
water sources for agricultural water supply.
• Consider these in relation to the other components of the cycle, as
shown in the following slides.
The Earth – the “Blue Planet”
Schematic of the hydrological cycle
Components of the Hydrological cycle
• Precipitation. This includes all forms of moisture falling on the ground
from clouds and may occur as rain, snow, dew, hail and sleet. Clouds
are tiny water droplets that are formed by condensed water vapour;
• Interception – portion retained on buildings, trees etc.;
• Infiltration – portion that enters into the ground surface;
• Transpiration – consumed by plants, shrubs and trees through roots,
eventually released through stomata into the atmosphere;
• Depression storage – portion held as puddles on the ground;
• Precipitation excess or runoff – portion that flows by a variety of
paths to join a stream or river channel.
Components of the Hydrological cycle cont.
• Detention storage – layer of water retained as runoff occurs;
• Evaporation – part of the moisture that is turned to vapour by solar
radiation and rises to the atmosphere. This transport process is partly
facilitated by winds. Evaporation can occur ‘in-between’ any of the stages
above;
• Percolation – water flow through the unsaturated soil layers (vadose zone)
to the water table, below which the ground is saturated, and groundwater
occurs;
• Spring – flow from underground to the surface, usually by seepage. If it
flows under earth’s pressure, it is referred to as artesian well;
• Oceans, seas, lakes – surface and groundwater all flow to these water
bodies or reservoirs. Evaporation from these repeat the whole process of
the hydrologic cycle. The cycle may be represented schematically as shown
below.
Global Water availability estimates
• Total volume of water on Earth is estimated at about 1.4 billion km3.
• The volume of freshwater resources is estimated at 35 million km3, or about 2.5
percent of the total volume.
• Of the freshwater resources, about 24 million km3 or 70 percent is in the
form of ice and permanent snow cover in mountainous regions, the
Antarctic and Arctic regions.
• About 30 percent of freshwater is stored underground in the form of
groundwater (shallow and deep groundwater basins up to 2 000 metres,
soil moisture, swamp water and permafrost). This constitutes about 97
percent of all the freshwater that is potentially available for human use.
• Freshwater lakes and rivers contain an estimated 105 000 km3 or
approximately 0.3 percent of the world's freshwater.
• The following diagram gives ‘relative sizes’ of occurrence.
Relative amounts of global water
Alternative representation of global water
Botswana: occurrence of water supplies
• The following are the documented water sources in Botswana:
• Groundwater and sand storage
• Storage dams
• Small irrigation dams
• Streamflow (river withdrawals)
• Wastewater.
• It is noted that there are existing and potential water volumes from each of
the sources above (see table on next slide, source: National Water Master
Plan Review (NWMPR), 2006). Due to prevailing circumstances, wastewater
has the largest potential for growth, and may well be the preferred source
for future irrigation development in the country as evidenced by a number
of projects that have already been established.
Potential water availability for irrigation –
(source: NWMPR, 2006)
Water source Potential water for irrigation
(million m3/yr)
Existing boreholes and sand river 19.8
withdrawals
Existing small irrigation dams 2.5
Existing stream flow water 7.1
Potential groundwater development 34.3
Potential wastewater 51
Total: 114.7
Groundwater – a vital resource for Botswana
• Major source of water supply, especially in the rural areas
• Estimated in 1990 to account for 64% of water consumption (National
Water Master Plan (NWMP), 1992).
• Estimated total number of boreholes in the country is 17,700.
• Of these, some 8,956 are owned by the Government (primarily to
provide for water supply and wildlife). The rest are privately owned –
mainly for livestock watering and irrigation.
• Most of these boreholes are deep – averaging 120 m in the eastern
part of the country, and as much as 300 m in the central and western
parts (which are covered by thick Kgalagadi sand deposits).
Drainage Basins of Botswana
• From the Botswana National Atlas (2000), the following drainage
basins are documented:
Limpopo – to the east
Okavango – north-west
Kwando-Linyanti-Chobe – north
Molopo-Nossob – south-west
Makgadikgadi – north
Uncoordinated – central (in the desert)
• [see the following map – also showing the associated rivers]
Drainage Basins and Rivers of Botswana
Limpopo River Basin - Base level: Indian Ocean
• Limpopo River
• Shashe River
• Ramokgwebana River
• Tati River
• Motloutse River
• Lotsane River
• Serorome River
• Notwane River
• Metsimotlhabe River
• Madikwe (or Marico in South Africa) River
• They from part of LIMCOM
Molopo-Nosob River Basin – Base level:
Atlantic Ocean
• Important to note that this forms a tributary to the bigger Orange-
Senqu River Basin (ORASECOM).
• Molopo River
• Nossob River
• Moselebe River
Okavango River Bain (part of OKACOM): Base
level – Okavango Delta
• Okavango River
• Ngamaseri River
• Khwai River
• Eiseb River
• Xaudum River
Kwando-Linyanti-Chobe basin
• It is important to recognize that this is part of the Zambezi river basin,
and so the base level is the Indian Ocean.
• Cuando River (Chobe River) (Linyanti River)
• Makwegana River (Selinda Spillway) (receives outflow from the Okavango
during floods)
• This river system is quite complicated (see map)
Kwando-Linyanti-Chobe river system
Makgadikgadi pans base level
• Boteti River (flows out of the Okavango Delta in rainy seasons)
• Thamalakane River
• Nata River
• Tutume River
• Semowane River
• Mosetse River
• Lepashe River
• Mosope River
Kalahari Desert
• This is often described as a diffuse system – meaning it is
uncoordinated. This means it has non defined base level.
• Okwa River
Assignment - for discussion
• With respect to Botswana, what portion of the water allocated for
irrigation development is estimated to be actually utilized for the
purpose?
• What do you think are the reasons for the disparity?
