Deforestation and water availability in data-scarce Mulanje area, Malawi

Local communities in Mulanje, in the southern region of Malawi, are dependant on a combination of surface water and groundwater for drinking water and irrigation water supply. Several perennial streams originate on the Mulanje Massif, a distinct mountainous formed by igneous rocks, which provide invaluable drinking water and irrigation water during the dry season. Residents claim that the dry season flows have decreased dramatically due to severe deforestation of the slopes of the Mulanje Massif. The streams are at present ungauged. In a join project by the local Southern Region Waterboard and the Dutch drinking water company Brabant Water, the water balance and hydrological response of each catchment were investigated using the hydrological modelling framework WFLOW, using globally available datasets of meteorology, land use and soil types. Furthermore, different scenario's of land use change were investigated.