Understanding sediment process in the Magoye reservoir of Southrn Province Zambia
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Date
2017-06-01
Authors
Muchanga, Manoah
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
ARIPD
Abstract
Reservoir sedimentation is one of the problems facing managers of small reservoirs (with ≤5m height of
embankment). The main methods used to understand sedimentation process in the Makoye reservoir
included sediment coring, onsite measurements using Sedimeter SM3A, use of Elevation Change Method
(EMC), laboratory analysis of sediment core, 3D Spatial Analyst Tools (3DSATs) in ArcGIS 10.3 as well as
mathematical models. The reservoir had been silting at a significant rate of 3,112.97 m3 yr-1 leading to average
accumulation of 87,163 m3 of sediment, which had eventually reduced the reservoir's storage capacity by
53.5%. The EMC methods also revealed that Makoye reservoir tapped 79,749.38 m3 of sediment giving rise
to the between method average sediment volume of 83,456.26 m3. Reservoir's useful life was found to be 24
years. Results from Sedimeter SM3A showed that a total depth of 0.688cm of sediment had accumulated
during a period of 309 hours in the 2015/2016 rainy season as compared to 1.56 cm in the 2016/2017 rainy
season. The long term average depth of sediment was found to be 2.4 cm. It was concluded that
sedimentation in the Makoye Reservoir is a serious problem which may lead to complete loss of reservoir
storage capacity.
Description
Keywords
Reservoir sedimentation
Citation
Muchanga, M. (2017). Understanding Sedimentation Process in the Makoye Reservoir of Southern Zambia. Journal of Geography and Earth Sciences. Vol. 5, No. 1., Pp. 77-96