Pungwe River

Pungwe River (Portuguese: Rio Púnguè) is a 400 km long river in Zimbabwe and Mozambique. It rises below Mount Nyangani in the Eastern Highlands of Zimbabwe and then flows eastward through the Manica and Sofala provinces of Mozambique. It then empties into the Mozambique Channel atBeira, forming a large estuary. [1] It is one of the major rivers of Mozambique and often causes floods.

Beira at the mouth of the Pungwe River, as seen from the International Space Station
The Pungwe River flooding as seen from NASA MODIS satellite in 2010.
The Pungwe River in a normal state as seen from NASA MODIS satellite in 2009.

Pungwe basin

Administratively, the Pungwe Basin covers parts of Sofala and Manica provinces in Mozambique, and a large part of Mutasa District in Zimbabwe. A small portion of the basin in Zimbabwe falls in Nyanga District. The basin's population in Mozambique is estimated at 1,081,000 people and that for Zimbabwe at 95,869 people. [2]

Water supply systems

Beira metropolitan area in Mozambique receives its water supply from the Pungwe River. The 2004 water demand from the Beira/Dondo water supply, which included the Mutua and Mafambisse areas, was estimated at 25,339 m3/d.

The city of Mutare is supplied from the Pungwe River through an inter-catchment transfer facility. The quantities transferred to are limited to a maximum of 0.7 cubic meters/second by the provisions of a water permit and system design. In addition, on 27 September 1995, it was agreed at a meeting of the Mozambican and Zimbabwean ministers responsible for water affairs that water could be abstracted from the Pungwe River to supply the city of Mutare, with an upper limit of 1 cubic meters/second. Consequently, a fixed abstraction of 60,480 cubic meters per day by Mutare city has been adopted as water demand from the Pungwe River. The Mutasa Rural District is also expected to draw water from the Pungwe pipeline to supply villages along its route. [3]

References

  1. ↑ "Development Of The Pungwe River Basin Joint Integrated Water Resources Management Strategy".
  2. ↑ Zimbabwe Population data
  3. ↑ "SWECO and Associates 2006, Pungwe River Basin Joint IWRM and Development Strategy ".

External links

Coordinates: 19°51′55″S 34°49′07″E / 19.865278°S 34.818611°E / -19.865278; 34.818611

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