Preliminary estimate of environmental flow requirements of the Rusape River, Zimbabwe

摘要

Environmental flow requirements for the Rusape River, a tributary of the Save River, in Zimbabwe, were estimated using a rapid results approach. Thirty years of hydrological data with daily time steps from gauging stations upstream and downstream of the Rusape Dam were analysed using DRIFT Software. The dam appeared to have caused an increase in intra-annual and inter-annual flood events downstream compared to upstream, including significant dry season releases, while inter-annual floods were larger. The water releases from the dam differ from the natural flow in both volume and frequency, especially in the dry season and may have had a negative impact on the local ecosystem and subsistence farmers.