Water resources quality data following extreme rainfall and floods in the Gaborone catchment, Upper Limpopo basin, Botswana

The dataset contains concentrations of Total Organic Carbon, Chloride, Fluoride, Bromine, Sulfate, Potassium, Aluminium, Calcium, Iron, Magnesium, Sodium, Phosphorus, Chromium, Manganese, Cobalt, Nickel, Copper, Zinc, Arsenic, Selenium, Molybdenum, Cadmium, Lead and stable water isotopes (δD and δ18O) for 25 groundwater and surface water sampling locations, surveyed over the period February 2017 to May 2018 immediately following Dineo floods. The data were collected as part of the PULA project, which aimed at understanding the immediate effect of heavy rainfall and floods on water resources in arid Botswana and their transitional hydrologic readjustment towards the dry period, and the role of these events in supporting either or both resources replenishment and contamination. The project was co-ordinated by the University of Aberdeen, with partners at the Botswana International University of Science and Technology, the Government of Botswana Department of Water Affairs, and the International Water Management Institute. The project was funded by the Natural Environment Research Council as part of its Urgency grants scheme.

,The samples involve groundwater and surface water samples, which were collected scattered around the Gaborone Reservoir catchment area, south-west Botswana. There were 287 sampling occasions, which were collected on 41 different days, concentrated around ~15 sampling campaigns. Each sampling occasion involved taking two samples. One of which was analysed and the other used if any re-runs were needed. All samples were labelled in the field with the label containing information on the sampling name and the date of collection. Samples were refrigerated and stored at the Botswana Department of Water Affairs and shipped to the University of Aberdeen for analyses in 4 separate shipping batches. Laboratory analyses were then performed as soon as possible after the samples arrived (with refrigeration meanwhile). Analyses of P, Cr, Mn, Co, Ni, Cu, Zn, As, Se, Mo, Cd and Pb were done on an Agilent 7900 ICP-MS instrument at the Chemistry department of the University of Aberdeen. Analyses of Al, Ca, Fe, K, Mg and Na were done on a MP-AES instrument at the School of Biological Sciences at the University of Aberdeen. Analyses for TOC were done using a LABTOC instrument at the School of Biological Sciences at the University of Aberdeen. Analyses for stable water isotopes were done on a TWIA-45-EP LGR instrument at the School of Geosciences at the University of Aberdeen. Instruments were used following standard calibration steps and results quality controlled.,