In Burundi the rains have started in earnest, and for our work on rivers the most obvious indicator is the mud in the river water. This past week we went out with a team to measure flows at several places on the Ruvyironza River – and we measured more than a two-fold increase in flow from just one month ago in mid October. River flow is one of the most important and least precise factors in determining the power output of our hydroelectric plants. It is for this reason that we use several different methods to calculate past and present river flows, which then helps us to predict river flows over the next 25-50 years when the hydropower plant will be operating in Burundi.
