Groundwater governance and management in Njombe district, Tanzania

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Date

2022

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Sokoine University of Agriculture

Abstract

Groundwater resource in Tanzania faces challenges such as low awareness of the local communities about groundwater management, pollution, unplanned and uncontrolled exploitation. The general objective of this study was to examine groundwater governance for groundwater management in Njombe District. Data collection took place between September and November 2019. The study adopted a cross-sectional research design with qualitative and quantitative techniques. Qualitative data were collected using key informant interviews and focus group discussions whereas household survey was used to collect quantitative data. Purposive sampling procedure was used to select divisions and wards. A simple random sampling technique was used to select one village from each ward. From the sampling frame, a total of 250 households were selected. The IMB Statistical Products and Service Solutions version 20 was used to summarize quantitative data while qualitative data were subjected to content analysis. A Summated Index Scale (SIS) with five-point index scale was used to quantify groundwater governance. The Kruskal Wallis H Test and the Mann Whitney U Test were used to compare responses between villages and males and females respectively. The ordinal logistic regression model was used to determine the governance principles and groundwater characteristics factors that influenced groundwater users’ compliance with groundwater institutions. Chi- squire test was also used to determine the respondents’ socio-demographic characteristics that influenced groundwater users’ compliance with groundwater institutions. The results showed that only three governance principles out of eight were well practised while other governance principles were poorly practised. The study concludes that the practice of governance principles was poor, hence affecting groundwater management in the study area. The overall level of groundwater governance was low and differed by governance principles. Groundwater governance actors interacted to manage public groundwater points. However, groundwater governance encountered insufficient control over information flow among governance structures. The study recommends that groundwater governance structures have to maintain and improve their interaction to enhance effective groundwater management. The district should provide capacity building related to interactions particularly on efficient control of information flow and linking with other governance structures for groundwater governance and management matters at a local level. Based on the ordinal logistic regression analysis, compliance was mainly influenced by availability of groundwater (Wald = 7.694, p = 0.006), quality of groundwater (Wald = 20.408, p = 0.000) and participation (Wald = 13.397, p = 0.000). The results from Chi- squire test showed that compliance was also influenced by the distance from the respondents’ households to groundwater points (p = 0. 006), sex (p = 0.000), education level (p = 0. 000) and the households annual income (p = 0.01). The study concludes that, groundwater characteristics in terms of quality and its availability, the practice of governance principles particularly participation in decision making, accessibility of groundwater, and socio-demographic characteristics are essential aspects to influence groundwater users’ compliance with groundwater institutions. The study recommends that groundwater governance actors including the district water officials, village councils and COWSO leaders should practice well the good governance principles in the study area. Also the study recommends that local government authority and other water development stakeholders should increase number of groundwater points within the recommendable distance. The groundwater users’ socio-demographic characteristics particularly sex, education level and annual households’ income should be considered by groundwater governance actors to enhance effective groundwater management at the local level. This will increase the level of compliance with groundwater institutions.

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Keywords

Groundwater governance, Groundwater management, Groundwater pollution, Njombe district

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