Hydrological Services

The Eastern Arc provides crucial hydrological services to the people of Tanzania, including drinking water, water for irrigation, hydro electric power and soil retention.

This module focuses on modelling water flow and water condition in the catchment basins of the Eastern Arc mountains and on estimating the value of these hydrological services.

Data from 55 rainfall stations and 20 river gauging stations have been assembled, together with land cover data and a detailed Digital Elevation Model (DEM) for the area. This will be used to run a Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) hydrological model for the Eastern Arc Mountains.

Detailed river basin models are in the process of being developed for the Sigi river (flowing from the East Usambara mountains), the Ruvu river (flowing from the Uluguru mountains) and the Kilombero river (flowing from the Udzungwa mountains).

This module is being led by the University of Dar es Salaam Hydrology Department in Tanzania and the Natural Resources Department at Cranfield University in the UK.