Pieter van der Zaag

Pieter has worked in Africa and Mexico from 1982 to 2003. He has special interests in agricultural water management, water allocation issues in catchment areas and in the management of transboundary river basins, on which he has published widely. Pieter is fascinated by the dynamic relationship between biophysical and social processes when managing water, and in understanding patterns of cooperation over water.

The following are Pieter’s current main research interests:

• Harnessing water by smallholders from nature-based storage in (semi-)arid regions in Africa
• The role of inequality and heterogeneity in enduring water institutions
• Water allocation tools in river basins – developing dynamic water value maps
• Water allocation in large irrigation systems – supporting canal operators with mobile model predictive control and earth observation techniques.

Pieter has a track record of formulating and guiding major interdisciplinary research and capacity building projects, including in Ethiopia, Ghana, India, Kenya, Mexico, Mozambique, Senegal, South Africa, Sudan, Tanzania, Vietnam and Zimbabwe.

From 2003 until 2019 he was member of the governing board of WaterNet in Southern Africa. He is an associate editor of Water Policy, and member of the editorial board of Hydrology and Earth System Sciences. From 2012 to 2018 he chaired the Netherlands National IHP Committee.

Pieter van der Zaag studied irrigation at Wageningen Agricultural University, The Netherlands. From 1987 to 1989 he was based in Mexico. He received his PhD degree in 1992. From 1993 he coordinated a joint research programme between the University of Zimbabwe and Wageningen Agricultural University.

In 1997 he joined IHE Delft and was seconded to the Department of Civil Engineering, again at the University of Zimbabwe. The major activity involved the setting up of a new MSc programme in ‘Water Resources Engineering and Management’.

From 1999 to 2002, Pieter was the interim manager of WaterNet, a regional network aiming to build and strengthen regional capacity for the integrated management of water resources in the Southern African region through education, training and research.

In 2002 Pieter van der Zaag was appointed Professor of Water Resources Engineering and Management at the University of Zimbabwe. In 2004 he was appointed Professor of Integrated Water Resources Management at IHE Delft. From 2012 to 2015 he was the head of the newly formed Department of Integrated Water Systems and Governance.

Visit my private website.

Tekeze (Ethiopia), Mzingwane (Zimbabwe) and Limpopo (Mozambique)

A4Labs – Arid African Alluvial Aquifers Labs securing water for development; a new farmer-centred action-oriented research project; with Oxfam Novib, Acacia Water, Mekelle University, Dabane Trust, Oxfam Mozambique and other partners in Ethiopia, Mozambique and Zimbabwe; IHE Delft leads (DUPC2 funded; 2016-2019). 

Irrigation package for sand rivers, a feasibility study in the Mozambican Limpopo Delta - IPSAR. This project is associated with the A4Labs project and initiated by Acacia Water, together with the Practica Foundation, Instituto Superior Politecnico de Gaza ISPG, Oxfam Mozambique and IHE Delft (PVO funded, 2018). 

From the delta looking up...

In September 2018 we convened the high-level workshop entitled “From the delta looking up… Sharing lessons of downstream countries on transboundary water cooperation” held at the maritime MuZEEum, Vlissingen, The Netherlands. The outcome of this workshop was the Zeeland Call for Action; see https://www.un-ihe.org/news/sharing-lessons-downstream-countries-transboundary-water-cooperation

Water Peace and Security (Global)

The Water, Peace and Security Partnership - Enabling preventive action for water induced conflict is a pilot initiative to test whether it is possible to anticipate water-related human insecurity using and combining novel data and source. IHE Delft (leads), World Resources Institute WRI, Deltares, The Hague Centre for Strategic Studies HCSS, Wetlands International and International Alert (DGIS funded, 2018-2019). See https://www.un-ihe.org/news/water-peace-and-security-partnership.

Incomati (Mozambique)

Improved water efficiency control based on advanced remote sensing technologies - IWACA TECH. This action research couples Mobile Model Predictive Control techniques with Advanced Remote Sensing to improve water productivity in large scale open canal irrigation systems – piloted in Xinavane Sugar Estate, Mozambique. VanderSat (lead), with Tongaat-Hulett, Mobile Water Management, Eduardo Mondlane University, TU Delft and IHE Delft (PVO funded, 2018-2019). See www.IWACATECH.com.

Blue Nile

Accounting for Nile Waters: connecting investments in large scale irrigation to gendered reallocations of water and labor in the Eastern Nile basin; with IWMI, Hydraulics Research Centre Sudan, University of Khartoum, Forum for Social Studies Ethiopia, Research Institute for Sustainable Environment - American University in Cairo, National Water Resources Centre Egypt, Eastern Nile Technical Regional Office ENTRO (CGIAR funded – WLE Nile Basin and East Africa Focal Region). Preliminary findings are posted at http://nilewaterlab.org.

In Search of Sustainable Catchments and Basin-wide Solidarities; Transboundary Water Management of the Blue Nile River Basin; with IWMI, Addis Ababa and Khartoum Universities and Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam (NWO/WOTRO funded; 2008-2013). See also the NWO website: http://www.nwo.nl/en/research-and-results/research-projects/i/16/3816.html

Mara

Mau Mara Serengeti (MaMaSe) Sustainable Water Initiative; with  WWF Kenya, Kenya Water Resource Management Authority, Egerton University, Masai Mara University, Alterra, ITC, SNV, GIZ, Deltares

Pangani

Upscaling small-scale land and water system innovations in dryland agro-ecosystems for sustainability and livelihood improvements; with University of Dar Es Salaam, Sokoine University of Agriculture, University of KwaZulu Natal, International Water Management Institute IWMI, Stockholm Resilience Centre and Delft University of Technology (UPaRF funded; 2009-2013); this is a sequel to the Smallholder System Innovations in Integrated Watershed Management project (SSI) (WOTRO, Sida and DGIS funded).

Mozambique

Mobile Water Monitoring in Mozambique - a cooperation project of ARA-Sul and Dutch partners; implemented with MobileCanalControl (lead) (Partners voor Water funded)

Zambezi

Power2Flow: Hydropower-to-environment water transfers in the Zambezi basin; in collaboration with Eduardo Mondlane University in Mozambique, WaterNet in Southern Africa and the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (UPaRF funded; 2009-2013)

Pungwe

Water Planning tools to support Water Governance in Mozambique (WATPLAG) - a cooperation project of ARA-Centro and Dutch partners; implemented with FutureWater (lead) and Water Board Hunze and Aa’s (Partners voor Water funded) 

Limpopo

Water rights in informal rural economies in the Limpopo and Volta basins; led by IWMI; we are coordinating the Mozambique study (CP66; CGIAR Challenge Programme for Water and Food funded; 2008-2009). See http://waterandfood.org/2011/10/21/water-rights-in-informal-economies/

Managing risk, mitigating drought and improving water productivity in the water scarce Limpopo Basin; implemented by WaterNet (CP17; CGIAR Challenge Programme for Water and Food; 2004-2009); see the research page of www.waternetonline.org

Incomati

Risk-based operational water management for the Incomati River Basin (RISKOMAN); with Eduardo Mondlane University, Komati basin Water Authority KOBWA, University of Kwazulu-Natal (UPaRF funded; 2009-2014).

Mozambique

Capacity Development at Agencia de Desenvolvimento do Vale do Zambeze and seven educational institutions in complementary IWRM Education and Training, Mozambique; implemented with TU Delft (lead), Wageningen University, KIT and Eduardo Mondlane University (Nuffic funded, 2017-2020) 

India

Developing Basin Plans for the Chambal and Sindh river basins - a Taylor-Made Training programme for the Water Resources Department of Madhya Pradesh, India (World Bank funded)

South Africa

Capacity Building for Integrated Water Resources Management in South Africa; with Cape Peninsula University of Technology and University of the Western Cape; implemented with Wageningen University (lead), ITC, IRC and Pegasys (Nuffic funded)

Ethiopia

Capacity building in Integrated River Basin Management for Higher Education Institutions to support emerging River Basin Organisations; with Addis Ababa University, Wageningen University, MetaMeta and Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam (Nuffic funded; 2009-2012). See http://www.universitywatersectorpartnership.org/

Mekong

Anticipating and resolving flood issues, differences and disputes in the Lower Mekong Basin – a capacity building programme for the Mekong River Commission (MRC funded; 2008-2009)

Ghana

Capacity Building for Sustainable Development of Water Resources and Environmental Sanitation in Ghana and the Sub-Region; with KNUST (Nuffic funded; 2005-2009)

Southern Africa

WaterNet - Human Capacity Building in IWRM (phases I, II and III; 1999-2016); see www.waternetonline.org