Kafue River

Ferry across the Kafue

Template: Infobox River / Obsolete

The Kafue is one of the biggest rivers of Zambia.

The Kafue rises near Ndola in 1,513 meters above sea level. It flows through Zambia from north to south, cutting across the Kafue National Park, then the fertile Kafueauen with Blue Lagoon National Park and Lochinvar National Park, then through the long Kafueschlucht with their high gradient and flows into the Zambezi River. In Kafue National Park Kafue is dammed by the Itezhitezhi Dam, which supplies 80 MW of electrical power and, through his great reservoir for a consistent flow throughout the year. South of Lusaka, the river is dammed in the Kafueschlucht by the Kafue dam. The turbines generate 900 MW here (1972 ), of which 431 MW will be exported. Zambia is through this dam able almost to meet its energy needs. Above the dam over a large area irrigation economy is on the edge of the Kafue floodplains that were before the dam was built in the rainy season to a 5,000 -acre lake operated. Here are the most economically important and agriculturally most productive areas of Zambia. 700,000 people live in the vast Kafue floodplain (15 ° 46 ' S, 27 ° 50' O 15.76666666666727.833333333333 ) livestock husbandry and fishery, agriculture on the edge of the floodplain as Namwala, or in areas such as around Mazabuka, where huge areas be irrigated größflächig, or the sugar industry in the city.

A project in 1999 significantly reduced the stock of water hyacinth ( Eichhornia crassipes ), a 1890 British introduced by Latin American aquatic plant that forms strong spread and almost impenetrable carpets in the Zambezi and all its tributaries. This plant is eaten by any animal and survive very long drying times. You clogged turbines and slows down the watercourse.

The Kafue flows through the mining area of Copperbelts from which he mitschwemmt various metal residues. The water of the river is also considered heavily loaded with fertilizer residues. Mazabuka with 130,000 inhabitants and Kafue town with 160,000 inhabitants leave their waste water, and industrial, unexplained seep into pool. February 2006, reported on the Kafue Islands, a cholera epidemic.