Service Contract No 2007 / 147-446 Strategic ... - Swaziland

Most of the water in Swaziland (96%) is used for irrigation, of which sugar cane is the maincrop. More details on the water balance and water use by the sugar sector is provided in thebaseline for Key Aspect 1 on water availability below.There is little information in Swaziland on water quality. Information that is available shows ageneral deterioration due to chemical pollution from commercialised agriculture and industrialpollution (Simelane, 2007). Some of the sources of pollution cited include leachate fromimproperly managed solid waste disposal sites, and “accidental” spillages of toxicsubstances like phenol. Industrial pollution seems to occur mainly in the Usuthu Basin, inMatsapha and upstream. The contribution of sugar cane farming to water pollution is poorlystudied, in part due to a lack of appropriate regulations.4.6 Air qualitySwaziland enjoys good air quality, and there are no major air pollution concerns, either frompoint- or non-point sources.4.7 EnergyThere are four major sources of energy in use in Swaziland: electricity, petroleum products,wood fuel and new and renewable energy sources. The only ones available locally are coaland renewable energy sources.Swaziland has reportedly large reserves of low volatile and low sulphur anthracite of mediumto high quality. This coal is less environmentally harmful but does not ignite easily and ismore expensive.The two main renewable sources of energy in Swaziland are biomass and hydroelectricpower. Biomass fuels are available from the sugar and forestry industries. Bagasse from theindustrial forestry sector is reported to be landfilled. As for the sugar industry bagasse isburnt by the sugar mills to produce electricity to satisfy a portion of their energyrequirements, and initiatives are on the way to use cane trash and tops as fuel for cogenerationof electricity.Swaziland also produces hydroelectric power through four hydroelectric schemes,contributing about 23% of energy supply in the country.Figures 4 and 5 illustrate the Swaziland energy supply in 1995 and 2005.RDMU (Strategic Environmental Assessment of the National Adaptation Strategy) - Page 25