Strategy for Maputo’s water supply

Maputo, the capital city of Mozambique has a population of approximately 1.5 million residents. At the same time the city is growing 3% every year, above all because of the high economic growth in the region. Urbanisation and massive investment in the expansion of the water supply network will lead to water requirements tripling by 2027.

There is hardly enough water as it is. The Umbeluzi River that supplies the city is currently almost completely utilised for water supply and irrigation in Swaziland. Therefore, it is desirable that water is also drawn from the adjoining rivers Inkomati and Maputo, which are shared by South Africa, Swaziland and Mozambique. Large amounts of water are already extracted from these rivers, first and foremost for irrigation and as cooling water for power stations. Extracting water from the Maputo requires large infrastructural investments in the form of dams and piping systems up to 70-80 km.

Sweco’s assignment includes accessing how much water is available to Maputo through parallel use of the three rivers and what the consequences will be for other users. Sweco will also analyse the various infrastructural solutions that exist and study the possibilities of reducing water requirements in Maputo through the reuse of water or by more efficient water management. The end product will be a strategy that can be applied to Maputo’s water supply for the next 20 years. The assignment is worth 433,000 euros and will be completed during 2009. The assignment is led by Sweco’s newly opened regional office in southern Africa.