OVERVIEW OF THE IMPACT OF MINING ON THE ... - IIED pubs

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3.166 Implications for water quality and quantity management
There is some evidence to suggest that the mining operations at Kabwe have had adverse effects on the local
environment. Large (but localized) areas are denuded of vegetation as a result of atmospheric pollution from
the smelter and seepage from the waste dumps.
3.17 The Luangwa sub-catchment
3.17.1 General description
3.17.1.1 Hydrology
This area comprises one large sub-catchment containing the Luangwa River, with a series of smaller streams
and rivers that drain into the Luangwa. The Luangwa River flows in a south-southwesterly direction, draining
the Luangwa Rift Valley and also receiving flows from the Mulungushi sub-catchment before swinging
southwards to join the Zambezi River at the town of Feira on the Mozambique border.
The Luangwa River is perennial, though dry season flows are barely discernable. The Luangwa Rift Valley lies
in a rain shadow that reduces rainfall from the southeasterly winds, and annual rainfalls average some 750 mm.
The Luangwa River meanders across a broad floodplain, leaving many isolated oxbow lakes and lagoons. The
central portion of the Luangwa Valley contains the Luangwa North and Luangwa South National parks.
The smaller, perennial and non-perennial streams that drain the Muchinga Escarpment to the west and the
Nyika and Viphya Plateaux to the east have steep gradients and have incised deeply into the country rock.
3.17.1.2 Geology
The plateaux on both sides of the Luangwa Rift Valley are composed of quartzites, sandstones, granites and
gneisses, underlain by sedimentary rocks with coal measures to the east. These rock formations are intruded
by numerous small pegmatites that are host to a variety of high-quality semi-precious stone deposits (amethyst,
garnet, aquamarine).
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