Figure 2.6: Water use by economic sector. Data Source: Aquastat (2008), Gibb (2011)
The following summarises the current and 2027 water resource and infrastructure development
requirements in the SADC region (this is also summarised in Tables 1 and 2.3):
There is about 50 million hectares of irrigable land available within the SADC region, of which
only 3.4 million hectares (7%) is currently irrigated (SADC 2011). The irrigated area has to
increase at least three fold to 10 million hectares by 2027, bringing it to the world's average of
20% of irrigable land under cultivation;
The hydropower potential of the SADC region is some 150 GW, of which only 12 GW is
installed (SADC 2011). Hydropower installation also has to increase six fold by 2027 to at least
75 GW. This target is feasible if both Inga and Batoka are implemented by 2027. This increase
would be in line with the SAPP targets;
Of SADC’s population of 260 million people, 39% has no access to an adequate safe drinking
water supply, while 61% has no access to adequate sanitation services (SADC 2011). As the
population grows to 350 million by 2027, more people will have no access to both adequate
safe drinking water and sanitation services, unless investments in this sector are also
increased such that by 2027, 75% of SADC's population has access to adequate safe drinking
water and sanitation services. This coverage would be in line with the MDG target for water
supply and sanitation for the region, albeit, achieved after the target date of 2015; and
To facilitate and cater for the above expansions and water demands, the annual water
abstraction will have to increase six fold from the current 44 km3/year or 170 m3/capita/year
to 264 km3/year or 750 m3/capita/year by year 2027. This would represent about 11% of the
total annual renewable water resources in the SADC region stored. This ties up with the
proposed increase in storage from the current 14% of annual renewable water resources of
the SADC region to 25%.
Table 2.2: Some selected Major Storage Reservoirs of the SADC region (capacity > 1 km3)
DAM
CAPACITY (x109 m3)
COMPLETION YEAR
Mutirikwe (Zimbabwe)
1.5
1970
Katse (Lesotho)
2
1996
Itezhi‐Tezhi (Zambia)
5
1978
Gariep (South Africa)
6
1972
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