The Shashe is a highly ephemeral river, with flow generally restricted to a few days of the year.

These supply water for a number of irrigation schemes including Sibasa and Shashi.

The lower Shashe River forms the border between Botswana and Zimbabwe and is unbridged.

[4] In 1982 it was found that groundwater from the local wells in Francistown had high levels of nitrate, and was also inadequate to meet public demand, so the public water supply for that city was changed over to using water from the Shashe Dam.

[citation needed] Further downstream, the Dikgatlhong Dam impounds the Shashe near the village of Robelela, completed in December 2011.