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Four possible causes for the failure of the Mtera-Kidatu Reservoir System within the Rufiji
River Basin in Tanzania in the early 1990s were investigated. These were sudden decrease in
inflows, sudden increase in losses, sudden increase in hydropower generation, and
unnecessary spills; or a combination of these, and it was found out that unaccounted for and
unnecessary spillage was the main cause. This paper proposes that consideration of the flows
that are generated within the intervening catchment (i.e. catchment between Mtera and
Kidatu) and the operational policy that maximum power is produced at Kidatu most of the
time must be the core in the management of the reservoir system. If this was the case in the
past then the Mtera Reservoir should not have gone dry in the 1991-1994 period. The validity
of this assertion was tested with the TALSIM 2.0 model and an efficiency of 95% was
achieved, indicating a very good correlation with the investigative techniques employed in
this study. |
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