Under the MRI (Millennium Resilience Initiative), the KfW (German Development Bank), EIB (the European Investment Bank) and AFD (Agence Française Développement) have decided to tender an Integrated Water Resources Management Programme for the Lake Victoria Catchment Basin Commission under the EAC (East African Community). Lake Victoria is the largest inland water source in Africa and the world's second largest fresh surface water resource (around 68,800 km²). It hosts around 40 million inhabitants, who depend, directly or indirectly, on the Lake’s resources. The outflow from Lake Victoria is feeding the Nile River. Due to population growth, rapid urbanisation and contamination of natural waters not to neglect climate change, there are huge challenges and needs to improve water management for the sake of public health, national economy and the environment.

The IWRM Programme's first stage is focused on water and sanitation in the Lake's riparian countries Burundi, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda and Rwanda. The IWRM shall be elaborated as a computerised model, with three separate modules. These are (1.) the water resources module WRM to simulate water quantities as well and qualities, (2.) the water utilisation module WUM to evaluate the benefits for different water consumer groups and (3.) the water intervention module to incorporate all relevant technical and institutional measures respectively investments under discussion. This model structure had been developed under the applied research project "IWRM-MOSA", Integrated Water Resources Management in the Middle and Upper Olifants Basin, South Africa, www.iwrm-southafrica.de, sponsored by BMBF (the German Ministry for Education and Research).

Quoting Professor Rudolph, the leader of the project: "Considerable work had to be executed to make academic IWRM modelling useful for bank finance. At first glance, this task of adaptation seemed nearly impossible considering the mandatory requirements for project appraisal under a donor bank. However, at the second glance, the adaptation could be handled after harmonising academic language with the language of financial cooperation. Now, IWRM modelling can serve the banks economic project impact assessment and extend this exercise to water catchment scale in order to co-ordinate and optimise future investments in water and sanitation infrastructure all across the Lake Victoria Basin". Without such adaptation, Rudolph said, "IWRM is helpful as a tool for technical engineering but of little effect when it comes to justify decision making under financial aspects".

Contact:

IEEM gGmbH -Institute of Environmental Engineering and Management at the Witten/Herdecke University

Att.: Mr Jens Hilbig, M.A.

Alfred-Herrhausen-Str. 44

58455 Witten, Germany

Phone: +49 2302 914010

E-Mail: mail@uni-wh-ieem.de

www.uni-wh-ieem.de