The future of the Sub-Saharan African water supply system in small towns: A case study from Moamba

Abstract

This MSc thesis is a contribution to the African Water Corridor (AWC) project that gains insight into the future of water supply systems in the Sub-Saharan African small towns. The future water demand in these areas constitute a great challenge in the effort to provide safe water for everyone. Unfortunately, there are high uncertainties in the future posed by unforeseen changing factors such as global climate change and urbanization which makes it a challenge for decision-makers to develop strategies for these water supply systems in the long-term planning. The concept of resilience is introduced by many studies to address those uncertainties The objective of this thesis is to provide an approach for decision-makers to develop a resilience water supply system in small towns for long-term decision planning to answer the following research question: ‘How can a water supply system in a small African town be resilient and provide sufficient water in the future?’ This thesis presents a methodology that is resilience-based and develops reduced future supply and increased future demand scenarios for the small town in a period of 30 years. To analyze the water supply systems in small towns, Moamba has been used as a case study..