South Africa and Zimbabwe sign agreement on Water Resources Co-operation

South Africa's Minister of Water and Sanitation Senzo Mchunu and his Zimbabwean counterpart Anxious Jongwe Masuka have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on the transfer of treated water across the common border.

The implementation of the bilateral agreement provides for the delivery of about 15 million cubic metres of water per annum, equivalent to 41 million cubic metres per day, from the Beitbridge Water Treatment Plant in the Republic of Zimbabwe to Musina in South Africa.

Musina Municipality has a population of 132 000 people living in the town of the same name and 192 villages. This is reported by Prensa Latina, a partner of TV BRICS.

This region in the north of the country is one of the hottest and driest in the world, with very limited surface water sources, so its inhabitants are largely dependent on groundwater for their daily lives.

Mchunu and his colleagues from Zimbabwe, Botswana and Mozambique, members of the Limpopo Watercourse Commission (Limcom) will also sign the so-called modified Limcom agreement.

The Limpopo Watercourse Commission (LIMCOM) is a transboundary organisation set up by the four countries to manage shared regional water resources equitably.

The document will enable the realisation of integrated transboundary river basin management for the sustainable development of the Limpopo River Basin, whose waters are used for activities such as agriculture, tourism, power generation and domestic use.

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