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The Global warming effect has had negative impacts on water resources in Zimbabwe due to erratic rainfall patterns. The overall effect leads to reduction in power generation on hydropower stations as a result of low water levels. Water level monitoring at hydro power generation reservoirs is thus of utmost importance. Currently employed in situ based water level monitoring techniques are less efficient and do not provide the synoptic coverage of the lake. We present the relationship between factors (natural and anthropogenic) affecting water levels and the measured water levels. The factors were derived from remote sensed data. To ascertain the most significant factors contributing to water level and electricity generation fluctuations, correlation and regression were used. The regression models generated were used to design an application. The application automated the processing satellite imagery. From the automated extraction of rainfall data and land use/cover classification water level monitoring was achieved.

The most prominent problem of rapid urbanism in Harare is the development of slums and Epworth is a notable example. The quality of planning and decision making in the participatory slum upgrading initiative can be sustainably improved by well managed processes of spatial and socioeconomic data collection. More so, existing approaches for slum upgrading are built on the basis of collaborative planning and thus community participation. Geographic Information Systems (GIS) tools and support systems should explicitly consider the needs of professional and non-professional stakeholders in slum upgrading process. This study aimed to develop a customized "GIS based slum upgrading system" that would empower the community to participate in the planning and decision making processes involved in slum upgrading. The study involved developing tools that could be used by lay people, to achieve the same results an expert would. To achieve this, a PostgreSQL/Postgis spatial database integrating the spatial and enumeration data component was developed as the backend with a front end developed using VB.Net. A Map Control tool was imported from Map window 4.7 for displaying and interacting with spatial data. Techniques such as buffering were incorporated in the system to allow users to check for structures within a given distance of a feature. The system also provided a tool that allowed users to select an area and calculate the number of stands that can be obtained after inputting parameters like stand size and type of road. The system provided for tools that calculate statistical values e.g. determining the population as well as the number of households in a selected area. Users could also query for socioeconomic data by selecting spatial features. This provided flexibility in terms of the interaction of the users with the data. The system proved that with user oriented GIS system it is possible to develop tools that can be used by lay people especially those in slums to formalize their areas and obtain security of tenure.

Abstract. Zimbabwe's water resources are under pressure from both point and non-point sources of pollution hence the need for regular and synoptic assessment. In-situ and laboratory based methods of water quality monitoring are point based and do not provide a synoptic coverage of the lakes. This paper presents novel methods for retrieving water quality parameters in Chivero and Manyame lakes, Zimbabwe, from remotely sensed imagery. Remotely sensed derived water quality parameters are further validated using in-situ data. It also presents an application for automated retrieval of those parameters developed in VB6, as well as a web portal for disseminating the water quality information to relevant stakeholders. The web portal is developed, using Geoserver, open layers and HTML. Results show the spatial variation of water quality and an automated remote sensing and GIS system with a web front end to disseminate water quality information.

Abstract