DISCLAIMER: This work was supported by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), Southern Africa Regional Mission, Fixed Amount Award 72067419FA00001. This work reflects the work of the authors and does not necessarily reflect the views of USAID or the United States Government.

WATERQ2: UNDERSTANDING WATER QUALITY & QUANTITY IN THE LIMPOPO BASIN

FY2019-2020 Work Plan

31 Aug 2019, version 2

WaterQ2: Understanding Water Quality and Quantity in the Limpopo Basin

Suggested citation:

Kahler, D. M., Edokpayi, J. N., Rose, K. C., (2019). WaterQ2: Understanding Water Quality and Quantity in the Limpopo Basin, FY2019-2020 Work Plan. Thohoyandou, South Africa: Limpopo Resilience Lab.

Cover photo: Resting Spotted Hyenas at Kruger National Park, credit: Mackenzie L. Martin.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION 1

WORK PLAN 3

PROJECT ADMINISTRATION 3 PERSONNEL 3 FINANCES 3 METEOROLOGICAL, RIVER, AND GROUNDWATER MONITORING (MODULE 1) 3 HYDROMETEOROLOGICAL STATIONS 3 GROUNDWATER MONITORING 7 SATELLITE ALGORITHMS 7 STAKEHOLDER WORKSHOP AND TRAINING (MODULE 2) 7 STAKEHOLDER ENGAGEMENT MEETINGS 7 TECHNICAL TRAINING 10 CONFERENCES 10 LIMPOPO RESILIENCE LAB (MODULE 4) 11

TIMELINE 11

DATA, KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT, AND COMMUNICATIONS 12

APPROVAL 14

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Project Information

Project Title Water Q2: Understanding Water Quality and Quantity in the Limpopo Basin Geographic Locations Botswana, Mozambique, South Africa, and Zimbabwe Award Number 72067419FA00001 Implementation Dates March 2019 to March 2022

Prepared for: Akinwale Aboyade Agreement Officer’s Technical Representative USAID/Southern Africa

Graham Paul Alternate Agreement Officer’s Technical Representative USAID/Southern Africa

INTRODUCTION The transboundary Limpopo River Basin crosses Botswana, Mozambique, South Africa, and Zimbabwe. At over 400,000 km2, the Limpopo River Basin is home to 18 million people living in both rural and urban areas. Industries in the Basin include businesses in the urban areas and water-intensive uses such as agriculture and mining; industrial water use is growing rapidly. In addition to the human residents, the Basin contains some of the most biodiverse natural areas on the planet.

The rainfall in the Basin is heterogeneous with some sub-basins receiving less than 400 mm on average and other downstream sub-basins in Mozambique receiving over 750 mm annually. Even meteorological stations located in close proximity demonstrate substantial spatial variation within sub-basins. The Basin has experienced severe droughts in the last decade. In addition to the variation in the amount of rainfall, the timing, especially the start of the growing season, has varied significantly. However, there remain many questions about the reliability of rainfall data and other water measurements due in part to the infrequent calibration and validation of field site measurements. The limited confidence in these data, combined with the substantial variation through time and space necessitates an integrated approach to improve data collection, validation, and overall Basin water resource management in the Basin.

The goal of this project is to build resilience through the support of Basin stakeholders, including The Limpopo Watercourse Commission (LIMCOM), to improve governance around water resources management and water security in the Basin. A systems approach, such as integrated water resources management (IWRM) is needed to address such complex, large, and interrelated components of water resources. IRWM is recommended by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) Water and Development Strategy Implementation Guide (2014). This context will be combined with data collection and validation, data sharing, and continuous evaluation of the interrelations that affect water resources.

This project will support water resources monitoring, and the development of methods for water quality and quantity measurement based on in situ sensors and satellite measurements. These measurements will enable characterization of water resource dynamics at the whole Basin scale and form the foundation for hydrologic modeling that can help estimate hard-to-measure parameters and also provide holistic assessments of Basin scale stocks and flows. To support data sharing, the project will use cloud-based, automated data collection and web-based data sharing.

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The Development of local capacity to maintain water resources and make proactive, scientifically justified management decisions requires a substantial human capital resource that is currently lacking in the Basin. The project will provide training, workshops, and conferences will focus on integrated water resources management (IWRM) and environmental flow analysis.

The results of the water resources and biodiversity studies conducted will be compiled into a report for the Basin stakeholders. Continued high-quality data collection, training, and general logistics depends on dependable physical infrastructure. To support data collection efforts as well as training and collaboration the Limpopo Resilience Lab at the University of Venda will be established. The sustainability of lab activity will continue with the implementation of a small user fee beyond the duration of the project. Annual training workshops and conferences will be located at or nearby the Resilience Lab.

In this report, the collaborators, Duquesne University (Duquesne), Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI), and University of Venda (Univen), establish their work plan for the fiscal year 2019-2020 (this is in reference to the United States Government fiscal year that begins 01 Oct 2019).

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WORK PLAN This work plan is for the period 01 October 2019 – 30 September 2020. This work plan introduces the planed work after the first six-months of activities outlined in the Mobilization Plan.

PROJECT ADMINISTRATION

PERSONNEL

At Duquesne University, Graduate Research Assistant (GRA) 1 will graduate in May 2020 and is working on a research thesis that will support this project, and GRA 2 will continue studies and work on a research thesis that will support this project. Duquesne will accept one graduate student for the USAID-supported GRA 3 starting in August 2020.

University of Venda (Univen) will continue to support two graduate students on activities to support this project.

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) supports one postdoctoral research associate (postdoc) supervised by Dr. Rose. The postdoc plans to continue on work to support this project.

FINANCES

Project management will include the verification of all finances incurred under the project and is the responsibility of Dr. Kahler as set forth by the previous Work Plan (in the Mobilization Plan). All invoices will be verified by Dr. Kahler and paid by Duquesne. Additionally, the three PIs will meet with project staff every month to verify invoices for the project (this may occur via teleconference). All project staff will meet at least monthly to review project progress. Dr. Kahler’s additional responsibilities for subawardee monitoring, as outlined by Duquesne’s Controller’s Office are:

• Confirmation of the following will be required for each invoice o Research is in line with spending o Expenses submitted are appropriate o Work was performed during an appropriate timeframe o Work performed and expenses submitted are in compliance with special terms

• Transaction detail for all invoices submitted • Supporting documentation for any transactions over 2500 USD • Supporting documentation for capital equipment • Confirmation that there has been consistent communication with the subawardee PI • Quarterly documentation or reports on project progress • Annual confirmation that Dr. Kahler is monitoring the financial and programmatic activities

METEOROLOGICAL, RIVER, AND GROUNDWATER MONITORING (MODULE 1)

HYDROMETEOROLOGICAL STATIONS

The hydrometeorological stations enhance the collaborators ability to monitor the water resources within several high-elevation basin and calibrate models (Table 1, Figure 1).

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In consultation with key stakeholders (see upcoming 2019 Stakeholder Meetings and Training Workshops Report for full analysis of these meetings), the spatial variability of precipitation is

TABLE 1: HYDROMETEOLOGICAL STATIONS

SITE PARAMETERS INSTALLATION

Mutale Weir Precipitation

Solar radiation

Air temperature

Relative humidity

Wind speed and direction

River stage

Water temperature and conductivity

Water turbidity

March 2019

(some parameters August 2019)

Mbehela Primary School (Mutale River)

Precipitation

Air temperature

Relative humidity

December 2017

(repaired August 2019)

Medike Nature Reserve (Sand River)

Precipitation

Solar radiation

Air temperature

Relative humidity

Wind speed and direction

August 2019

Leshiba Wetland (Unnamed Sand River tributary)

Precipitation

Air temperature

Relative humidity

Wetland stage

August 2019

Kruger National Park (Olifants River)

Precipitation

Air temperature

Relative humidity

River stage

Water temperature and conductivity

Water turbidity

Water chlorophyll

January 2020 (planned)

Tswapong Hills Precipitation

Solar radiation

Air temperature

Relative humidity

Wind speed and direction

River stage

July 2020 (planned)

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recognized and of significant concern. We plan to prioritize the rehabilitation or placement of more precipitation gages.

Figure 1: The Limpopo River Basin and Sand River catchment (pink) and Levuvhu/Mutale River catchment (dark green). The Basin spans Botswana (light green), Mozambique (light pink), South Africa (lavender), and Zimbabwe (light blue). Locations of installed stations and transect locations (and planned Botswana location). The Leshiba Wetlands are located near the station in the Sand River. A dynamic map is available at www.duq.edu/limpopo under the data page.

In addition to the hydrometeorological stations listed above (and Figure 1), routine surveillance of water quantity and quality will be made by the collaborators. Periodic measurements of river stage/discharge, and water temperature, conductivity, dissolved oxygen, turbidity, and chlorophyll will be made. The areas of primary interest for water quality are (Figure 2):

• Soutpansberg o Sand River near Medike Nature Reserve o Sand River near Waterpoort o Mutale River, Mutale weir (for quality control) o Levubu River near Louis Trichardt/Albasini Dam o Levubu River near Thohoyandou/Nandoni Dam o Levubu River near the Mutale River confluence o Levubu River near Makuleke wetland in Kruger National Park (a Ramsar-recognized

wetland)

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Figure 2: The Limpopo River Basin and Sand River catchment (pink) and Levuvhu/Mutale River catchment (dark green). The Basin spans Botswana (light green), Mozambique (light pink), South Africa (lavender), and Zimbabwe (light blue). Locations of proposed stations, transect locations, and proposed groundwater investigation locations. Location of key established stations are also shown.

• Olifants River o Olifants River in Kruger

National Park, east of Phalaborwa (may include metals analysis as well) (Figure 3)

• Upstream o Crocodile River near

Buffelshoek (Figure 3)

Albasini Dam

Nandoni Dam Waterpoort

Mutale-Levubu

Medike Nature Reserve

Leshiba

Figure 3: The Limpopo River Basin and Sand River catchment (pink) and Levuvhu/Mutale River catchment (dark green). The Basin spans Botswana (light green), Mozambique (light pink), South Africa (lavender), and Zimbabwe (light blue). Locations of proposed stations, transect locations, and proposed groundwater investigation locations. Location of key established stations are also shown.

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GROUNDWATER MONITORING

Groundwater surveys will commence in January 2020 and continue every two months. The areas of greatest significance are the high-elevation catchments identified measurements have been previously identified. In particular:

• Wetlands within the Sand River catchment near Medike Nature Reserve • Makuleke wetland along the Levubu River near in Kruger National Park (a Ramsar-recognized

wetland) • Mutale River near Tshilamba and upstream through Dzimauli and Lake Fundudzi • Tswapong Hills, when available

Data will be acquired by electrical resistivity tomography (ERT), which will provide the two-dimensional water table. This will be used to calibrate groundwater models. These models will be the subject of an undergraduate research project during the 2019-20 academic year and contribute to GRA 1’s thesis research on water resource policy.

SATELLITE ALGORITHMS

This year, GRA 2 will write a computer program that will detect the edge of the water in the normalized difference water index (NDWI) given knowledge of the pixels in the satellite image and measure the cross-river width with sub-pixel river estimates. This will be conducted at multiple sites in the Soutpansberg Mountains/Vhembe Biosphere Reserve.

In addition to flow, this project will develop algorithms for water quality. Specifically, water clarity measurements, such as turbidity and chlorophyll, are derived from satellite images. So far, collaborators at RPI have used Landsat images to estimate water clarity measurements. Satellite products will be adjusted for the type of waterway under investigation. The collaborators expect to make extensive use of the 3 m resolution Planet Labs, Inc. satellites, as explained in the Technical Applications. The collaborators have placed sensors in rivers of interest to calibrate this method.

STAKEHOLDER WORKSHOP AND TRAINING (MODULE 2)

STAKEHOLDER ENGAGEMENT MEETINGS

This first stakeholder meeting was a complete success. The meeting was held at the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) in Pretoria (Figure 4). In addition to the meeting in Pretoria, the collaborators met with the scientific services staff at Kruger National Park and the conservationists at Endangered Wildlife Trust.

To build off of this success, the collaborators plan to hold additional

Figure 4: Participants of the stakeholder meeting.

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meetings in key areas throughout the basin. The next stakeholder meeting will occur in January 2020 in Maputo, Mozambique. The primary goal of this meeting will be to meet with representatives from:

• Limpopo Watercourse Commission (LIMCOM) • Mozambique Department of Water and Sanitation • Mozambique Ministry of the Sea, Interior Water, and Fisheries • Limpopo Transfrontier Conservation Area • Other Limpopo-focused projects

In January, the collaborators plan to meet with the traditional Venda Tribal Authority leadership, who can connect us with smallholder farmers and community leaders throughout the South African section of the basin. The collaborators will use existing contacts and the Univen Office of Community Engagement.

Following the Maputo meeting, the collaborators will hold a stakeholder meeting in July or August 2020 in Gabarone, Botswana. The primary goal of this meeting will be to meet with representatives from the Botswana Department of Water and Sanitation. There was one member of this department who was able to join the meeting in Pretoria. This point-of-contact will assist the organization of this meeting.

In the Pretoria Stakeholder Meeting, the participants indicated the need for increased citizen participation in water science (that is, engagement in their watershed, data collection). WaterQ2 scientist David Kahler introduced a project that was developed by the United States Geological Survey (see references). The program, which has gone by the names Social Water and Crowd Hydrology (Figure 5), uses the general public to report the water level in rivers via text message. The current US-based system uses Google Voice and a python script to collect data on the river stage. This river stage, collected where a rating curve (Leopold and Maddock, 1953) exists or can be established, can be used to either provide a data quality check or populate the data itself.

Figure 5: Schematic of “Crowd Hydrology” as in Lowry et al. (2019). This graphic appears on the signs near the river staff gages near each station.

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This concept was of great appeal to the participants with one stopping the meeting and asking to return to the conversation; his exact words were, “we need this right now!” A citizen science project such as this could serve several purposes:

• Residents could become more involved with their watershed • Local users (e.g., farmers) may become more connected and be more conscientious water users • Data quality control measurements could be collected • New data sources could be developed with less cost than an autonomous data logger • Schools can use the staff gage and data generated in lessons

Figure 6: Staff gage in Kruger National Park for data quality control. Park staff routinely record the water level and transmit that information to data managers. This staff is on the Lower Sabie River in the Komati River Basin, where transboundary data sharing is facilitated.

Figure 7: Staff gage on the Mutale River at the Mutale Weir.

In some locations, the staff gages already exist (Figures 6 and 7); however, additional stations would be ideal to grow this program. Based on the collaborators’ experience, there is some concern over how readable the existing staffs are; a scale similar to Figure 5 may be more familiar to the general public.

Citizen Science References Leopold, L. B., & Maddock, T. J. (1953). The hydraulic geometry of stream channels and some

physiographic implications. Washington, D.C.

Lowry, C. S., & Fienen, M. N. (2013). CrowdHydrology: Crowdsourcing Hydrologic Data and Engaging Citizen Scientists. Ground Water, 51(1), 151–156. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1745-6584.2012.00956.x

Lowry, C. S., Fienen, M. N., Hall, D. M., & Stepenuck, K. F. (2019). Growing Pains of Crowdsourced Stream Stage Monitoring Using Mobile Phones: The Development of CrowdHydrology . Frontiers in Earth Science.

Fienen, M. N., & Lowry, C. S. (2012). Social.Water—A crowdsourcing tool for environmental data acquisition. Computers & Geosciences, 49, 164–169. https://doi.org/10.1016/J.CAGEO.2012.06.015

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TECHNICAL TRAINING

Technical training on basic hydrological measurements was offered in August 2019 at the University of Venda.

Based on the feedback from the stakeholder meeting in Pretoria, the project will offer a geographical information systems (GIS) and remote sensing training in January. This training will be open to student from Univen and representatives from key water resources management organizations such as those identified during the stakeholder meeting. To make the technology as accessible as possible, the project will use QGIS, an open-source software with similar capabilities to the commercial ArcGIS software. This decision is purely to make sure that those trained can continue to use these tools in their careers regardless of their ability to pay for costly software. In January, additional training topics, such as hydrologic modeling, may be added with sufficient interest.

Additional training will be offered in July or August 2020. Based on conversations at the first stakeholder meeting, data quality is a topic of interest. The project will explore collaboration on such a training with the South Africa Department of Water and Sanitation, who presented their new data management strategy at the stakeholder meeting and with FET Water programs, who was identified as a potential training partner.

The collaborators will track all participants of training activities in USAID’s Training Results and Information Network, TraiNet. The participants will be host-country (that is, a Limpopo Basin country) nationals. Training that occurs outside of the Milestone Plan will be reported on in the appropriate Quarterly Report.

For Dr. Edokpayi’s and Univen GRAs’ professional development, Univen’s budget includes travel to international professional conferences. These exchange visitors, as defined in RAA9 of the award agreement, will also be tracked in Trainet. Furthermore, the exchange visitors will comply with the terms of the J-1 exchange visitor.

CONFERENCES

The conferences will commence in the second project year. The conferences are an opportunity to bring scientists and practitioners from the Basin and around the world to partner on studies to improve the climate resilience and biodiversity in the Basin. USAID made the suggestion on 23 April 2019 that the collaborators seek synergies with other water conferences in the area. The collaborators greatly appreciate this insight and have identified the Water Institute of Southern Africa 2020 Conference in Johannesburg as an ideal meeting to hold a side event with a keynote speaker and networking opportunities for scientists from the Limpopo River Basin (https://wisa2020.org.za/).

TABLE 2: CONFERENCE KEY DATES

DATE GOAL OR DEADLINE

30 September 2019 Deadline for abstract submissions for the scientific program

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LIMPOPO RESILIENCE LAB (MODULE 4)

There has been increasing excitement of the role that the Limpopo Resilience Lab will play at Univen. Dr. Edokpayi has begun the process of seeking additional space and agreements for computing resources. This year, as the Lab becomes a reality, the project will finalize the goals for additional instrumentation needed for the lab. Univen plans to apply for additional funding to build up additional resources. Post-project cost recovery will be an issue of capacity building for Univen. The project will work with Univen’s finance personnel during this year to ensure that a sustainable cost model will be in place after this project has ended.

TIMELINE

31 January 2020 Goal for finalizing the keynote speaker

29 February 2020 Goal for organizing the scientific delegation to the conference

31 May – 04 June 2020 Conference

01 June 2020 Tentative date for side event

TABLE 3: WORK PLAN

OBJECTIVES ACTIVITIES RESULTS TIMELINE

Water monitoring and algorithm development (Module 1)

Sensors placed in key catchments; algorithm development underway

Map with locations of new gages, data, website

September 2019

Algorithm development, water edge detection

Fall semester 2019

Algorithm development, sub-pixel estimation

Spring semester 2020

Model calibration July/August 2020

Groundwater investigations (Module 1)

ERT training and bimonthly surveys started

Site map, data acquired Starting in January 2020

Hydrologic models parameterized, groundwater models training developed (see Module 2)

Academic year 2019-20

Measurements of Leshiba and Makuleke wetlands

July/August 2020

Stakeholder workshops (Module 2)

Maputo Stakeholder Meeting Stakeholders engaged, post-meeting report

January 2020

Gaborone Stakeholder Meeting July/August 2020

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Note: Academic terms refer to the United States conventional terminology; fall semester is September to December and spring semester is January to May.

DATA, KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT, AND COMMUNICATIONS

The data collected by the project will be uploaded to the USAID Development Data Library (DDL). The project PI, Dr. Kahler, has received a Partner Account with the DDL under the e-mail address, david.m.kahler@gmail.com. After the performance period, if use of the DDL is no longer available, the Limpopo Resilience Lab will be place data in public research repositories such as Mendeley Data.

Some meteorological stations will automatically upload data to a cloud computing resource. This project plans to use Meter stations that use a proprietary service called Zentra Cloud (https://www.metergroup.com/environment/zentra-cloud/). These data will be downloaded by the collaborators and uploaded to the DDL.

The data and reports generated by this project will be submitted to USAID and be made available on the project website: www.duq.edu/limpopo.

Training workshops (Module 2)

GIS/Remote Sensing

Hydrologic Modeling

Training delivered, report

January 2020

Data Quality training Training delivered, report

July/August 2020

Scientific conference (Module 2)

WISA 2020 Conference Side event, post-conference report

01 June 2020

Limpopo Basin Report (Module 3)

Development of report contents with stakeholders, building on the first stakeholder meeting

Format of report Fall semester 2019

Buy-in from LIMCOM, exploration of how this project can assist LIMCOM in their work

Specific tools introduced in the report (e.g., comprehensive repository of data and reports from the Limpopo Basin

January 2020

Draft report developed and presented at the WISA Conference

First edition of the report

01 June 2020

Website developed (Module 4)

www.duq.edu/limpopo Website guide and analytics provided in report

30 April 2020

Quarterly Reports Due 30 October 2019

Due 30 January 2020

Due 30 April 2020

Due 30 July 2020

Annual Work Plan Due 31 August 2020

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In addition to the reports and data for USAID, the project is planning on the following manuscripts to be submitted to peer-reviewed journals:

• Manuscript-in-progress: Novel algorithm for river discharge, M. Martin (based on thesis, target journal: Water Resources Research)

• Manuscript-in-progress: Riverine turbidity with remote sensing, M. Mlotha • Manuscript-in-progress: Land use change, river turbidity, and groundwater change, G. Sharp (target

journal: Ecology and Society) • Research (proposals and manuscripts to follow): Groundwater quality, microbial contamination

of groundwater with PCR, Mutileni • Research (proposals and manuscripts to follow): Impact of land use (e.g., mining) on water

quality (e.g,. heavy metals) in the Olifants River, Hilton

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APPROVAL This Work Plan has been received and approved by USAID. This satisfies the requirements set forth in the Milestone Plan, item #6: Completion of Annual Work Plan.

Signature: ____________________________________________________________

Name: ____________________________________________________________ Agreement Officer’s Representative

Date: ____________________________________________________________

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WaterQ2: Understanding Water Quality and Quantity in the Limpopo Basin