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

3.31.5 Water quality data
Only one sampling point (Figure 3.3).
3.31.6 Implications for water quality and quantity management
Slightly elevated iron levels are reported from the upper Nyaodza monitoring point, however, there are no
mining operations in the vicinity.
The only current mining activities in the area, quarrying of certain gemstones and dimension stones, mostly
small-scale, are likely to have minimal impact on local rivers. Such impact as there is will be substantially
diluted in the Zambezi, as the rivers all flow into Lake Kariba.
3.32 The Rukomeshe and Chewore sub-catchments
3.32.1 General description
3.32.1.1 Hydrology
This is Zone Z2 of Area C (ZSG, 1984). The area comprises a series of small sub-catchments, whose rivers
flow from the hills north of Makuti and Vuti into the Zambezi River below Lake Kariba (Figure 3.2). The largest
of these are the Rukomeshe (Rukomechi), Sapi and Chewore; none are perennial. There are wetlands at the
confluences of the Sapi and Chewore Rivers with the Zambezi.
3.32.1.2 Geology
See Figure 3.6 (ZGS , 1999). The area is underlain mainly by Karoo Supergroup sedimentary rocks, with
gneisses in the hill country above the Zambezi Escarpment.
3.32.1.3 Pedology, agriculture and land use
Soils in the area can be divided into three groups:
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