1. Support to the Orange River Mouth rehabilitation project
  2. Namibia prepares for combating Prosopis
  3. ORASECOM is hiring consultants
  4. 4th SADC Groundwater Conference 10-12 November 2021
  5. Botswana Desalination Plant Project Launched
  6. 39th IAHR World Congress
  7. Water is a matter of life and death – Opinion piece
  8. Webinar: Transboundary Water Management under conditions of Climate and Political Uncertainty: Middle Eastern and South African Perspectives
  9. World Water Week Groundwater Webinar
  10. Interview with Lenka Thamae, Executive Secretary of ORASECOM on the Lesotho-Botswana Water Transfer scheme
  11. Webinar Series: Groundwater – Base Rock of Resilience
  12. Climate Resilient Water Resources Investment Strategy & Plan & Lesotho-Botswana Water Transfer (L-BWT) Project
  13. GIZ
  14. Joint Water Resources Quality Survey (JBS)
  15. FGEF Support
  16. Water Information System (WIS)
  17. Joint Irrigation Authority (JIA)
  18. Water Information System (WIS)
  19. Adequate Rainfall Predicted for SADC October-December Season
  20. Orange-Senqu Basin Wide Groundwater Survey
  21. Fundraising for the Lesotho-Botswana Water Transfer Project
  22. Orange-Senqu River Awareness Kit
  23. International Conference on FRESH WATER GOVERNANCE FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT, 5th – 7th November, 2012, Champagne Sports Resort, Central Drakensburg (KwaZulu-Natal), South Africa
  24. 4th Orange-Senqu River Basin Symposium, 6th – 7th June 2012, Campus of the University of the Free State, Bloemfontein, South Africa
  25. The African Transboundary River Basin Support Programme came to an end
  26. Towards Transboundary Evironmental Assessment Guidelines for the Orange-Senqu River Basin
  27. ORASECOM initiates work on the Orange-Senqu River Learning Box
  28. The ORASECOM Secretariat takes delivery of a three dimensional map of the basin
  29. ORASECOM publishes its “State of the Orange-Senqu River System” Report
  30. ORASECOM initiates work on the Orange-Senqu River Learning Box
  31. Training on Aquatic Ecosystem Health Monitoring
  32. The Urban Pollution Workshop at Mohale Dam
  33. Phase 2 of an IWRM Plan Development Project came to an end
  34. ORASECOM opens the Secretariat offices
  35. ORASECOM is visited by the Volta Basin Authority
  36. Training on Water Resources Yield Simulation Models
  37. ORASECOM at the 3rd Africa Water Week in Addis Ababa
  38. ORASECOM comes of age at 10!
  39. ORASECOM participates in the 13th International RiverSymposium
  40. ORASECOM works with the Benguela Current Commission
  41. Environmental Flows Requirements Site selection and survey for Caledon, Kraai, South Africa & Lesotho
  42. First Delphi Workshop, June 2010, North West, South Africa
  43. ORASECOM Prepares for the Joint Basin Survey – 1
  44. Workshop on Stakeholder Participation – Maseru, Lesotho
  45. Visit of the Nile Equatorial Subsidiary Action Plan group
  46. Visit to Lesotho Flow Gauging Stations

Overview of the Orange-Senqu River Basin

The geography of the Orange-Senqu River basin is highly variable, from the mountainous terrain of the Kingdom of Lesotho, through the semi-arid and arid landscapes of South Africa’s Karoo and Richtersveld, to the deserts of southern Namibia.

The total Orange-Senqu River basin extends over four countries, Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia, and South Africa, and covers an area of 1 000 000 km². 64.2% (642 000 km²) of the basin falls within South Africa, 24.5% (245 000 km²) in Namibia, 7.9% (79 000 km²) in Botswana and 3.4% (34 000 km²) in Lesotho (ORASECOM 2007). The basin incorporates the central part of South Africa, which represents nearly half of the surface area of the RSA, the whole of Lesotho (where the main river is known as the Senqu), reaches to the southern part of Botswana, and drains most of the southern half of Namibia.

The main geographical regions covered by the Orange-Senqu River basin are (DWAF 2005):

  • Maluti Drakensberg Mountains
  • Highveld
  • Nama Karoo
  • Southern Kalahari
  • Namaqua Highlands
  • Southern Namib desert

For More information, please refer to the ORASECOM Brochure 2008