14th June 2022: The Rwanda Water Resources Board (RWB) in partnership with International Union for Nature Conservation (IUCN) in Rwanda have organized the 'Catchment Management Plan Consultation Meeting.'

"The meeting engaged different stakeholders in the water sector for Kivu and Akanyaru catchments with the aim to identify strategic areas in the catchment revolving around its management and landscape restorations," RWB's Head of Knowledge and Forecasting Hub, Bernard Musana notes.

The Catchment Management Plan (CMP) development also tends to obtain preliminary views based on different stakeholders' perceptions, he adds.

Details

Kivu catchment is dominated by Kivu lake, but also rivers such as Kirimbi, Kamiranzovu, Musogoro, Ruregeya, Koko, and Sebeya river, the last river has different tributaries including Bihongora, karambo, Pfunda and different gullies that sometimes cause floods in the area.

The Rwanda National Water Resources Master Plan of 2015 estimated the groundwater stored volume in Kivu catchment at 2,400 MCM. This is used to contribute to different economic sectors like agriculture, water utility, households use, industry, among others.

Akanyaru catchment starts in Nyaruguru District with main tributaries like Akanyaru river, which dwells as the border between Rwanda and Burundi.

This catchment also has 139 water users including large irrigation schemes, water treatment plants, hydropowers, industries, coffee washing stations, and mining sites.

Currently, seven dams have been constructed in Akanyaru catchment mainly for irrigation and domestic water supply. There are also 30 potential sites for reservoir development of different sizes that make a total storage of 65.8 MCM.