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A Narrative Report of the

Field Attachment Program Undertaken at the Department of Water Affairs, Lesotho

P.O. Box 772, Maseru

Presented to the Regional Universities Forum for Capacity Building in Agriculture (RUFORUM)

Submitted By:

Motseko Mots’ets’e

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Introduction

The Field Attachment Program Award (FAPA) is a competitive grants program designed as

graduate student internship to link thesis research findings and recommendations to application

and use at community level. The FAPA grants are intended to provide opportunity for

dissemination of research outputs with a view to inform policy development and hone students

skills in participatory (with communities) articulation of complex research cycle. This report

presents the results and activities of a field attachment program grant (FAPA RU 2017 FAPA

174) which was intended to support work on Dissemination and review of Lesotho wetlands

monitoring protocols. This work came out as recommendations arising from an MSc thesis

research funded by the RUFORUM under the title Hydro-period, surface-ground water

interactions and water quality to assess wetland condition of Khalong-la-Lithunya. The

thesis research constitute part of the RUFORUM supported Research Project; Hydropedology

and water isotopic signatures of mountain wetlands of Lesotho, identification number:

RUGRG0314-018. The main purpose of the MSc research project was to assess wetland

ecological functioning of the Khalong-la-Lithunya from wetland hydrology and water quality

by specifically determining hydro-period from water levels in piezometers, interactions

between surface and ground water using water stable isotopes and the effect of the wetland on

water quality of the piezometers and adjacent streams.

In general the results of the research showed that there was observed short hydro-period, a

delayed response between surface and ground water as well as poor water quality in both

piezometers and adjacent streams. The conclusion was that due to the obtained results, the

Khalong-la-Lithunya wetlands were seasonal and this makes wetlands susceptible to drought

hence may indicate affected wetland ecological functioning. However, the hydro-period was

determined from a discontinuous data hence it was recommended that further consistent

monitoring of water levels be done using automated water level recorders for a better

estimation of wetland hydro-period. Again, it was observed that stable isotopes illustrate the

potential to clarify hydrological dynamics since hydro-period is subjected to hydrological

variability due to different landscape characteristics over comparatively small distances and

this makes it difficult to identify representative sample points to monitor hydro-period. Hence,

seasonal examination of water stable isotopes was highly recommended. Also a continuous

measuring of water quality was recommended. In order to achieve all these recommendations,

a field attachment program was applied for.

The important stakeholders towards this field attachment were the community, whom most

importantly through the herd boys and livestock owners interacts directly with the wetlands

because they graze their livestock on the same wetlands. In addition, there are rural

communities that depend on these resources for their livelihoods. As a result they temper with

instruments installed in the wetlands for monitoring. The National University of Lesotho was

also identified as one of the stakeholders since it’s a research institution which carries out

studies through students’ research project or commissioned research with private and public

sector on wetlands. The selected government ministries were also identified as important

stakeholders in this research and are; the Ministry of Water through the Department of Water

Affairs and the Ministry of Forestry, Range and Soil Conservation through the Department of

Range Management. The Department of Water Affairs was given the role of being the

implementing entity of the project on Wetlands Restoration and Conservation under the

administration by the Millennium Challenge Account Lesotho (MCA-L). The current study

was carried out on one of the project sites for the MCA-L project and was a continuation of

that previous project using the equipment in place that has already been installed by that project

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and the protocols documented by MCA-L. The Department of Range Management on the other

side controls the grazing systems since wetlands are used for grazing.

However, the Department of Water Affairs was recognized as an important stakeholder in this

regard and therefore the Intern was placed at the Department of Water Affairs under the

supervision of Dr Botle Mapeshoane of the National University of Lesotho and Mr

Makomoreng Fanana of the Department of Water Affairs and also Head of the Water Resources

Division within the department. The objectives of the field attachment program were to

capacitate the Department of Water Affairs personnel on the use of water stable isotopes to

assess wetland hydrology, to promote and create awareness of wetlands wise use and finally to

review the monitoring protocols of wetlands to include the use of isotopes. But also the

program was intended to disseminate research findings to all stakeholders. The following

section presents the results based on the activities or work plan of the field attachment program.

Results

Dissemination of research findings

As per the dissemination of research findings a presentation event was held at the Department

of Water Affairs boardroom on May 09, 2017 where the attendance included all personnel from

all the major stakeholders except the community. The attendance also included the Technical

Task Team of the Khubelu Sponges Project (KSP). The presentation focused on the results of

the research project and also introducing the objectives of the field attachment program. It was

at the same event that the stakeholder’s personnel was showed the importance of using

automated water level recorders for consistent water level monitoring. It was explained how

the discontinuous data might have affected the results of the current study and how automated

water level recorders are the most preferred due to the disadvantages towards manual

inspection, an example of unfavorable climatic conditions was made. The personnel raised a

point that they are faced with a challenge of vandalism of instrumentation by the herders,

therefore it was agreed that there had to be a way of protecting these instruments, and one

suggestion was that maybe the military people need to be incorporated. Also the herd boys

need to be further capacitated and made aware of the importance of the instruments for wetland

monitoring for the benefit of their livestock.

Furthermore, the personnel was introduced to the concept of isotopes hydrology, where they

were capacitated on the use of water stable isotopes to monitor wetland hydrology. It was

explained to them what the obtained results on isotopes demonstrated in terms of the wetland

hydrology and proven to them why we think use of isotopes is a better method compared to

other ways of monitoring wetland hydrology such as hydro-period. They were further

challenged on the other uses of isotopes except the determining of the interactions between

surface and ground water that the current study did, these include the use of stable isotopes to

identify the wetland water source and estimating of the wetland mean residence time, both of

which are important for wetland management. They were also made aware of the need to

monitor wetland water quality and that research had to be done in order to identify source of

surface or stream flow pollution following the poorer stream water quality index that was

found. They were further made mindful of the study on the influence of land-use which could

give a better understanding of the wetlands condition.

As one way of research findings dissemination, a presentation of the results of the MSc research

project was made on August 23, 2017 to the panel of Department of Water Affair’s personnel

for both Lesotho and Namibia, Lesotho Range Department, the GIZ members from Lesotho,

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Botswana and Namibia, Orange-Senqu River Basin Commission (ORASECOM)

representative, as well as undergraduate and honors students from the Namibia University of

Science and Technology (NUST) under the Department of Natural Resources. They had all

come to Lesotho on a weeklong field tour to observe and be taught about the wetlands

management, the interventions that have been made by the Government of Lesotho and GIZ to

try and rehabilitate the wetlands of Lesotho since they are sources of water for the Orange-

Senqu River Basin which Namibia and Botswana forms part. They were also interested in

seeing the large reservoirs that Lesotho have such as the Katse and Mohale Dam that Lesotho

use to sell water to South Africa under the Treaty of the Lesotho Highland Water Project of

1986. Figure 2 below shows me presenting to the panel.

Figure 2: NUST field tour presentation

Moreover, in an attempt to disseminate the research findings, a paper was produced which was

submitted for publication to Wetlands Journal. Unfortunately, the paper was recommended for

a rewrite before it could be reviewed for further stages. Currently, the paper is being prepared

in the correct format for publication under Wetlands Journal. With further efforts being made,

a policy brief on the implementation of the FAPA was produced and is currently under review

for publication. Furthermore, an abstract of the research project was submitted for

consideration for oral presentation for the 18th WaterNet/WARFSA/GWPSA Symposium on

“Integrated Water Resources Development and Management: Innovative Technological

Advances for Water Security in Eastern and Southern Africa” to be held in Swakopmund,

Namibia. I am happy to announce that it was strongly accepted for oral presentation and the

symposium is to be held on 25th – 27th October 2017. A full paper has also been requested for

submission to the Journal of Physics and Chemistry of the Earth.

Promoting and creating awareness of wetlands wise use

Upon arrival at the Department of Water Affairs I was appointed to be part of the two projects

that the department was carrying out, these are the Khubelu Sponges Project (KSP) and the

operationalization of the Integrated Catchment Management (ICM) project. The KSP project

was intended to ensure rehabilitation of the rangelands including wetlands of the Khubelu

Catchment. This encompasses securing land and water resources as a contribution to the overall

effort to protect resources of the highlands of Lesotho that have been heavily degraded by

uncontrolled grazing. Therefore, the objective of the project was to demonstrate a

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methodological approach for the sustainable management of the wetlands benefiting the

population as well as the environment and securing long-term availability and quality of water

resources from the Upper Orange-Senqu catchment area. The pilot site consists of four sections

of former grazing areas based on the Range Resources Management Departments subdivisions

of the Khubelu Rangelands, namely Phapong, Moteaphala, Ramosetsana and Mots’eremeli.

The interventions were however restricted to just two of these sections (Phapong and

Ramosetsana) for trials. The project is implemented and administered by Department of Water

Affairs, but it also involves various other governmental departments. It is coordinated through

local stakeholders (traditional authorities and local community). The activities of the project

involved pilot interventions on physical rehabilitation of wetlands and biological rehabilitation

of rangelands especially through the holistic management approach and uprooting of invasive

species by the community and livestock vaccination. The following Figure 3 shows some of

the physical interventions that were made by the stakeholders involved in the project.

Figure 3: Physical structures

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The following pictures (Figure 4) show where invasive species have been uprooted by the

community and made into several successive lines in an attempt to trap the silt and reduce soil

erosion. The main purpose of uprooting the invasive species is to improve the rangelands.

Figure 4: Uprooting of invasive species to improve rangelands and control soil erosion

The project further introduced new methodologies of revegetation through temporary kraaling

and high density grazing. Temporary kraaling is where the animals are made to sleep or kraal

on a particular area for a certain time in order to kill the invasive species and fertilise that area

with their droppings for palatable grasses regrowth. However, grazing has always been referred

to as the main cause of wetlands degradation through overgrazing, a new approach has been

introduced which has actually proved to be working very well towards revegetating the

wetlands and rangelands, that is the high density grazing. This is where the animals are

prohibited from scattering all over the area doing their selective grazing but they are grazed in

a way that they are broad together as a large flock and herded systematically from one place to

the next. In this way they trample and kill the non-palatable shrubs and grasses that invade the

wetlands and rangelands, this allows for dominance of the palatable grasses. Figure 5 shows

where these new methodologies were practiced.

Figure 5: Temporary kraaling and high density grazing

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Figure 6 below shows the positive results that emerged from this new methodologies. The first

part (A) of the figure shows where after three nights of temporary kraaling of livestock, all the

uneaten plants have been destructed into litter, and some already incorporated into the top soil

by the animal hoofs. Also, the dung and urine have been incorporated, covering the bare patches

of the surface. Section (B) of the figure shows where old seeds begin to germinate while section

(C) shows the shrubs and moribund disintegration.

Figure 6: Results of temporary kraaling and high density grazing

I was also involved in the operationalization of the Integrated Catchment Management (ICM)

Framework. The ICM is part of a worldwide effort to reduce catchment degradation and ensure

sustainable water availability to increasing populations. Protection and proper management of

the water sources is essential, and must be undertaken by actively consulting the stakeholders

living in the watershed, involving them in the management and ensuring they benefit from this.

Land and water resources cannot be easily separated or managed independently of one another.

This implies that coordinated and integrated planning is required and this can be achieved by

instigating ICM approach within the country. The complexity of implementing ICM is also

exacerbated by multifaceted issues of land-use patterns and varied roles played by stakeholders,

communities and government. The integrated land and water resource management

programmes and investment plans therefore have to address soil erosion and desertification,

Treated Area

A)

B) C)

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protect water sources, preserve mountain ecosystems, increase capacity of rangelands, extend

appropriate forest cover, and rejuvenate agricultural lands.

The specific objectives of this assignment are therefore, to support the institutional and legal

reforms for operationalising the ICM Framework, support the validation of prioritisation and

sequencing of sub-catchments as proposed, through workshops involving all stakeholders and

contribute to the development of catchment management plans for each of the prioritised pilot

sub-catchments including annual plans of action and tentative budgets. Six Priority Sub

Catchments (PSCs) were selected for this pilot stage out of the 74 automatic delineated sub-

catchments of the country. These are the Likhetla, Makhalaneng, Hlotse, Khubelu, Senqunyane

and Maletsunyane. However, for the phase one of the pilot study, two priority sub-catchments

have been selected and are Likhetla and Makhalaneng PSC’s.

As part of ICM I was involved in organising and carrying out of the ICM activities. The

activities include the ICM Inception Workshop held on May 11, 2017. It was intended to

introduce the concept of ICM to the respective Ministers of particular government ministries

and other stakeholder. This was one way of raising awareness on the usefulness of wetlands

within the catchments and their management. The other goal of the workshop was for

stakeholders to identify their stake in catchment management through the activities or projects

that they do within their ministries and also regulating acts that guide them. I also took part in

the ICM Brainstorming and Interaction Session on July 20, 2017, envisioned to forge and

inform an approach that will be taken to operationalise ICM by providing a neutral forum for

a review of the benefits, risks, challenges and opportunities from various actors in integrated

land and water management and their contribution to ecosystems and improved services in the

face of an increasing population and climate change. The target audience for the brainstorming

session included government representatives, NGOs, civil society organisations, academia,

research and development institutes, producer’s organisation and cooperatives that all shared

their experiences, challenges and lessons learnt.

More awareness activities that I took part in within ICM include the Stakeholder Consultation

Workshops of the two phase one PSCs; those are Likhetla and Makhalaneng. The general

objective of the consultation workshops was to consult with the actors in catchment

management that are below ministerial level. These included the District Administrators (DA),

District Council Secretary (DCS), Community Councils (CC), Community Council Secretary

(CCS), Chiefs and Land and Environment Committee as well as Social Service Committee.

This further went down to the area/local chiefs, community groups, private sector e.g. farmers,

industries. The Likhetla stakeholder consultation workshop was held on July 27, 2017 and the

goals were to introduce ICM and raise awareness and find out who are the users of land and

water in the catchment, for what purpose, their tasks in land and water management, observed

examples and causes of degradation in the catchment and what was there in the past that is not

there at the present. Figure 7 shows the pictures taken at the Likhetla Stakeholder Consultation

Workshop.

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Figure 7: Likhetla stakeholder consultation workshop

The catchment management activities are implemented by the local councils and the

communities with a focus on benefits from water and natural resources resulting in improved

livelihoods in rural areas and economic development. Therefore, following the stakeholder

workshops the field visits were taken to the community councils. The following pictures on

Figure 8 show some of the visited areas in the Likhetla PSC within the Metsi-Maholo

community council. Section (A) of the figure shows a dried large wetlands of Ts’akholo while

section (B) shows an infrastructure that has been placed within a wetland not giving any chance

to the wetland to recover.

Figure 8: Ts’akholo wetland

The Makhalaneng Stakeholder Consultation Workshop was held on August 01, 2017. The

following pictures (Figure 9) were taken during this workshop which had the same goals as the

Likhetla workshop.

(A) (B)

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Figure 9: Makhalaneng stakeholder consultation workshop

Likewise we visited particular areas in the Makhalaneng PSC and Figure 10 below depicts

some of the observed areas within the Manonyane community council with evidence of soil

erosion.

Figure 10: Evidence of soil erosion in Manonyane community council

Moreover on awareness, I embarked on a 5 days field trip or campaign around the highland

wetlands sites of the country with the personnel from Department of Water Affair’s for both

Lesotho and Namibia, Lesotho Range Department, the GIZ members from Lesotho, Botswana

and Namibia, Orange-Senqu River Basin Commission (ORASECOM) representatives, as well

as undergraduate and honors students from the Namibia University of Science and Technology

(NUST) under the Department of Natural Resources to show them where our wetlands are

located and the management activities that are being carried out. The tour included

demonstrations on wetland monitoring activities, presentations on studies that have been

carried out and the importance of our wetlands as water sources for our rivers. The tour began

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on August 20, 2017 and ended on August 25, 2017. Figure 11 below indicates some of the

wetlands sites that were visited during the trip, section (A) is the Khalong-la-Lithunya wetland

where physical structures have been used to rehabilitate the wetland and section (B) is the

Bokong wetland which is a conserved area.

Figure 11: Khalong-la-Lithunya and Bokong wetland sites

Review of the wetlands monitoring protocols

Owing to the degradation of wetlands water resource it is important to monitor water quantity

and quality for better management of wetlands. Good quality data can be an enabler for better

planning of wise use of wetlands. Therefore, one of the recommendations of the research

project was to consistently monitor water levels and automated water level recorders be used

for a better estimation of wetland hydro-period. In addition to already existing monitoring

methods, seasonal examination of water stable isotopes to assess wetland hydrology was also

recommended. Even though automated water level recorders have not been installed in the

areas of Khalong-la-Lithunya as yet but a continuous monitoring of water levels is being done.

Moreover, in other areas where the department is working on, like Phapong, there are installed

automated water level loggers inside piezometers to monitor groundwater levels. Furthermore,

water quality of the wetlands is being measured continuously. Figure 12 below depicts where

I am manually recording water levels using the acoustic water level indicator and where I am

measuring in-situ, the temperature, pH, electrical conductivity (EC), dissolved oxygen (DO),

alkalinity and turbidity of the water.

(A) (B)

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Figure 12: Water level recording and water quality measurements

The wetland monitoring protocols were reviewed to include the measurement of isotopes. In

an effort to strengthen this, the Department of Water Affairs is to embark on a project which I

am going to be part of its technical task team on “Isotopic Techniques for Assessment of

Hydrological Processes in the Khalong-la-Lithunya catchment” funded by IAEA. Already

there are equipment that have been bought for this project and some are being already used in

the everyday wetlands monitoring activities. These include the two weather stations which are

yet to be installed and the Radon isotope meter. Radon as opposed to the then studied water

stable isotopes is a radioactive isotope. The stable isotopes are excellent indicators of the

circulation of water, while the radioactive isotopes are of special value in detecting the

residence time. The naturally occurring radon isotope (Rn – 222) has been used as a natural

tracer to determine the residence time of groundwater, surface water interaction and the ability

of pollutant infiltration from surface water into groundwater. The advantages of using Radon

isotope instead of stable isotopes of Oxygen and Hydrogen are that; radon concentration is

measured directly, so it eliminates the loss of radon during sampling and transportation and

also individual measurements cannot be influenced by environmental parameters such as

temperature and pressure because the measurements are carried out in situ. However, where

possible the water samples are still taken for further analysis of Oxygen and Hydrogen stable

isotopes in order to complement the results of the Radon. Both the weather station and the

radon meter are shown in Figure 13 below.

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Figure 13: Weather station and a radon meter

Acknowledgment

Support for implementation of project activities was made possible through a Field Attachment

Programme Award (FAPA) RU 2017 FAPA 174 provided by Regional Universities Forum for

Capacity Building in Agriculture (RUFORUM).