Keeping cattle and the cost of water in Eastern Botswana

So concludes this analysis, based on the 1979-80 Water Points Survey of 12 communities in this region, of farmers" water use strategies. In Part I, the author examines farmers" views of water use. In the short run, farmers can either move their cattle, construct new water points, or change water points. In practice, farmers usually alternate among 2-3 of the approximately 54 water points within their range. Since there is seldom a continuous and freely available supply, farmers must balance the relative reliability (both present and future), cost, and convenience of water sources. Such decisions constitute a large fraction of the herd management effort. Part II of the study focuses on patterns of water point use over time. Usage is described in terms of changes in the number or types of operating water points, changes in distance to water, changes in distribution of cattle among water points, and changes in cattle"s daily water demand. Private open wells, rivers, private seep wells, and private boreholes are most used; government owned and managed boreholes attracted the largest herds; communally managed water points served the smallest. Part III deals with the costs of constructing new water points, especially dams, hafir-dams, boreholes, and open wells. Boreholes were found to be the most expensive and hafir-dams the least. In conclusion, the author recommends that the first goal of water resources development be stabilization of the water supply in a given locality over the course of the year. The second goal should be to increase overall supply in order to raise per capita consumption of existing stock and to meet anticipated growth in stock size. Nine figures and 28 tables of data are included in the report. Appended are definitions of water point types, derivation of livestock and water measure per water point and of small dam costs, and a list of water use fees.