Effects of Long-Term Variability on Water Resources Management Along the Boteti River in Botswana

Abstract

This chapter examines how the availability and non-availability of river flows has affected benefits realized by communities residing along the Boteti River in Botswana. The Boteti River, which is about 350 km long, derives all its flows from outflows of the Okavango Delta and then discharges into the Makgadikgadi Pans. Peak outflows from the delta occur during the dry season, June to October, and during wet years such as from 1974 to 1982, water flows along the whole river from the delta to the Makgadikgadi Pans. Since 1991, outflows from the delta have only covered about 50 km, with the rest of the river being dry. There has been lack of flows on the downstream section in some years (e.g., 1929-39, 1941-47). Communities residing along the 50 km stretch that is annually flooded benefit from the river through livestock watering, flood recession crop cultivation, fishing, and harvesting of aquatic plants for food and construction. These benefits were not realized by those residing along the rest of the 300 km stretch that was not receiving flows from the delta during the 1991-2008 period.