This study investigates groundwater discharge to rivers in the Shire River Basin, Malawi, using the base flow index (BFI) approach. The BFI represents the baseflow component of a river and is often used as a proxy indicator of groundwater discharge to a river. The smoothed minima method was applied to river flow data from 15 gauges in the Basin (ranging from 1948 to 2012) and the Mann-Kendall (MK) statistical test was used to identify trends in the BFI. The BFI results indicate that groundwater plays an important role in contributing to river flows in the SRB, especially in the dry season. Expressing the BFI as a percentage, these values indicate that annual groundwater discharge to the river’s ranges from 19% in the Rivirivi River to 97% in the Shire River. Seasonally, minimal difference was found between the annual and the wet season BFI. Generally, the dry season BFI was higher than those of the wet season with most rivers increasing to >75%. Groundwater data supported the seasonal fluctuations identified in the BFI data, however, there were no groundwater monitoring boreholes in close proximity to any of the river gauges for in-depth analysis. The results also showed long term trends in the BFI data indicating behavioural changes in the river baseflow and groundwater discharge. In some areas, the declines in BFI indicate that groundwater discharge has been reducing over time due to declines in groundwater levels. This is a concern for the sustainable management of water resources in the Basin. The findings of this study provide important new knowledge on the seasonal and long-term behaviour of groundwater discharge to rivers in the Basin which will be crucial for supporting sustainable water resources management practices. The results will be particularly useful to the new National Water Resources Authority within the Malawian Government, who will oversee catchment management plans.
| Published in | American Journal of Water Science and Engineering (Volume 5, Issue 4) |
| DOI | 10.11648/j.ajwse.20190504.11 |
| Page(s) | 127-137 |
| Creative Commons |
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited. |
| Copyright |
Copyright © The Author(s), 2019. Published by Science Publishing Group |
Baseflow, BFI, Groundwater Discharge, Malawi
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APA Style
Laura Kelly, Douglas Bertram, Robert Kalin, Cosmo Ngongondo. (2019). Characterization of Groundwater Discharge to Rivers in the Shire River Basin, Malawi. American Journal of Water Science and Engineering, 5(4), 127-137. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajwse.20190504.11
ACS Style
Laura Kelly; Douglas Bertram; Robert Kalin; Cosmo Ngongondo. Characterization of Groundwater Discharge to Rivers in the Shire River Basin, Malawi. Am. J. Water Sci. Eng. 2019, 5(4), 127-137. doi: 10.11648/j.ajwse.20190504.11
AMA Style
Laura Kelly, Douglas Bertram, Robert Kalin, Cosmo Ngongondo. Characterization of Groundwater Discharge to Rivers in the Shire River Basin, Malawi. Am J Water Sci Eng. 2019;5(4):127-137. doi: 10.11648/j.ajwse.20190504.11
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Download@article{10.11648/j.ajwse.20190504.11,
author = {Laura Kelly and Douglas Bertram and Robert Kalin and Cosmo Ngongondo},
title = {Characterization of Groundwater Discharge to Rivers in the Shire River Basin, Malawi},
journal = {American Journal of Water Science and Engineering},
volume = {5},
number = {4},
pages = {127-137},
doi = {10.11648/j.ajwse.20190504.11},
url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajwse.20190504.11},
eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ajwse.20190504.11},
abstract = {This study investigates groundwater discharge to rivers in the Shire River Basin, Malawi, using the base flow index (BFI) approach. The BFI represents the baseflow component of a river and is often used as a proxy indicator of groundwater discharge to a river. The smoothed minima method was applied to river flow data from 15 gauges in the Basin (ranging from 1948 to 2012) and the Mann-Kendall (MK) statistical test was used to identify trends in the BFI. The BFI results indicate that groundwater plays an important role in contributing to river flows in the SRB, especially in the dry season. Expressing the BFI as a percentage, these values indicate that annual groundwater discharge to the river’s ranges from 19% in the Rivirivi River to 97% in the Shire River. Seasonally, minimal difference was found between the annual and the wet season BFI. Generally, the dry season BFI was higher than those of the wet season with most rivers increasing to >75%. Groundwater data supported the seasonal fluctuations identified in the BFI data, however, there were no groundwater monitoring boreholes in close proximity to any of the river gauges for in-depth analysis. The results also showed long term trends in the BFI data indicating behavioural changes in the river baseflow and groundwater discharge. In some areas, the declines in BFI indicate that groundwater discharge has been reducing over time due to declines in groundwater levels. This is a concern for the sustainable management of water resources in the Basin. The findings of this study provide important new knowledge on the seasonal and long-term behaviour of groundwater discharge to rivers in the Basin which will be crucial for supporting sustainable water resources management practices. The results will be particularly useful to the new National Water Resources Authority within the Malawian Government, who will oversee catchment management plans.},
year = {2019}
}
TY - JOUR T1 - Characterization of Groundwater Discharge to Rivers in the Shire River Basin, Malawi AU - Laura Kelly AU - Douglas Bertram AU - Robert Kalin AU - Cosmo Ngongondo Y1 - 2019/11/08 PY - 2019 N1 - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajwse.20190504.11 DO - 10.11648/j.ajwse.20190504.11 T2 - American Journal of Water Science and Engineering JF - American Journal of Water Science and Engineering JO - American Journal of Water Science and Engineering SP - 127 EP - 137 PB - Science Publishing Group SN - 2575-1875 UR - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajwse.20190504.11 AB - This study investigates groundwater discharge to rivers in the Shire River Basin, Malawi, using the base flow index (BFI) approach. The BFI represents the baseflow component of a river and is often used as a proxy indicator of groundwater discharge to a river. The smoothed minima method was applied to river flow data from 15 gauges in the Basin (ranging from 1948 to 2012) and the Mann-Kendall (MK) statistical test was used to identify trends in the BFI. The BFI results indicate that groundwater plays an important role in contributing to river flows in the SRB, especially in the dry season. Expressing the BFI as a percentage, these values indicate that annual groundwater discharge to the river’s ranges from 19% in the Rivirivi River to 97% in the Shire River. Seasonally, minimal difference was found between the annual and the wet season BFI. Generally, the dry season BFI was higher than those of the wet season with most rivers increasing to >75%. Groundwater data supported the seasonal fluctuations identified in the BFI data, however, there were no groundwater monitoring boreholes in close proximity to any of the river gauges for in-depth analysis. The results also showed long term trends in the BFI data indicating behavioural changes in the river baseflow and groundwater discharge. In some areas, the declines in BFI indicate that groundwater discharge has been reducing over time due to declines in groundwater levels. This is a concern for the sustainable management of water resources in the Basin. The findings of this study provide important new knowledge on the seasonal and long-term behaviour of groundwater discharge to rivers in the Basin which will be crucial for supporting sustainable water resources management practices. The results will be particularly useful to the new National Water Resources Authority within the Malawian Government, who will oversee catchment management plans. VL - 5 IS - 4 ER -
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