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The effect of stormwater runoff on the water quality of Peters Creek was investigated. Creek water was sampled at rural, suburban and urban sites. Background and runoff samples were analyzed for sediment, nutrient and heavy metal concentrations. The area upstream of the suburban site was found to contribute the greatest contamination to the creek but the heavy metal contributions were accumulated throughout the watershed. The creek water contained sufficient nutrients to potentially contribute to the eutrophication of Smith Mountain Lake downstream. As the watershed has been developed, flooding has increased in frequency. The detrimental effects of runoff can be reduced in the watershed by clearing the trash from the creek bed, enforcing construction erosion control and creek bed alteration ordinances and by building a series of detention basins in the creek upstream from common sites of flooding. / Master of Science / incomplete_metadata

<p dir="ltr">In the Midwest, tile drainage is used to lower water tables and remove excess water from the soil to improve crop production. This network of underground pipes (i.e., tiles) and expansive agriculture also increases nutrient export, contributing to ecological harm in local lakes and rivers and further downstream in the Gulf of Mexico. Conservation practices that avoid, control, or trap nutrients can mitigate these losses, but studies quantifying their impact at the watershed scale are challenging. This work uses water quality monitoring data collected throughout the Midwest to identify potential nutrient sources and pathways, the hydroclimatic variables influencing them, and the effects of conservation practices. In a study in northeast Indiana, nutrient travel times for total phosphorus, soluble reactive phosphorus, nitrate, and dissolved organic carbon were observed to be faster during winter storm events, likely due to a lack of vegetative processes. Tile drains were the primary contributor to in-stream nitrogen and phosphorus during spring storms but were not a primary contributor for phosphorus in the winter. Data from nitrate sensors across the Midwest were used to quantify the effect of sampling frequency on hysteresis and flushing indices, showing that sampling intervals greater than 8 hours estimates could lead to inaccurate values, and that caution should be used when interpreting outcomes when using longer sampling intervals. Wet antecedent conditions were associated with a dilution pattern of nitrate during storm events, and tile drainage exacerbates this by causing greater leaching during wet periods. A systematic review of water quality monitoring studies at the watershed scale showed the limits using current data, and suggested how providing better statistics could be used to facilitate a more robust meta-analysis to determine effect sizes and sources of heterogeneity among studies. In a monitoring study located in the central Indiana, agricultural conservation practices reduced nitrate concentrations by 27% in an artificially drained watershed. While tile drainage is a critical pathway for nutrients in the Midwest, the combined effect of various conservation practices can improve water quality at the watershed scale.</p>

In transboundary water resources policy and management situations, such as the governance of the Columbia River Basin, complex social, ecological, and economic factors seem to be in irreconcilable competition with one another. However, cooperative negotiation provides an outlet for entities and stakeholders to "expand the pie" and develop creative alternatives for integrated, resilient management. To achieve these goals, it is critical that stakeholders have meaningful dialogue that goes beyond positions to identify the underlying values and interests in the basin. Furthermore, parties must develop a shared understanding of the substantive complexities of the social-ecological system. Collaborative learning allows participants to meet both of these objectives at once, and facilitators can spark collaboration through carefully planned interventions. The goal of this study was to test a carefully crafted "facilitative" documentary film as a facilitation tool to promote dialogue, understanding, and creative scenario development amongst parties. The study has three main components: 1) the resilience and learning analysis of the case study (the Columbia River Treaty) policy situation, 2) the creation of a facilitative film featuring interviews with diverse stakeholders in the basin, and 3) the qualitative and quantitative assessment of the effects of the film in the cooperative negotiation process. The film, A River Loved: A film about the Columbia River and the people invested in its future, premiered at the Universities Consortium Symposium on Columbia River Governance- an informal forum for dialogue held in Kimberley, British Columbia in October 2011. I measured participants' reactions to the film and found substantial support for my hypotheses, concluding that interventions such as facilitative documentary film have great potential to transform complex, multi-stakeholder social-ecological policy situations. / Graduation date: 2012

In common with other natural systems, aquatic ecosystems provide a wealth of economically valuable services and long-term benefits to society. However, growing human populations, coupled with increased aspirations for improved quality of life, have lead to intense pressure on the world's finite freshwater resources. Frequently, particularly in developing countries, there are both perceived and genuine incompatibilities between ecological and societal needs for freshwater. Environmental Flow Assessment (EFA) is essentially a tool for water resources management and its ultimate goal should be the integration of ecological and societal systems. While other ecological components (i.e. biological and geomorphological) are equally important to EFA, this thesis investigates the role of the hydrological cycle and the hydrological regime in providing the ecosystem goods and services upon which society depends. Ecological and societal systems operate at different temporal, spatial and organisational scales and hydronomic zoning or sub-zoning is proposed as an appropriate water resources management technique for matching these different scales. A major component of this thesis is a review of the South African water resources management framework and, in particular, the role of the Reserve (comprising a basic human right to survival water as well as an ecological right of the aquatic resource to maintain ecological functioning) in facilitating ecologically sustainable water resources management. South African water resources management is in the early stages of water allocation reform and the Department of Water Affairs and Forestry has stated that "the water allocation process must allow for the sustainable use of water resources and must promote the efficient and non-wasteful use of water". Thus, new ways of approaching the compromise between ecological and societal needs for freshwater water are required. This thesis argues that this requires that the focus of freshwater ecosystems be extended beyond the aquatic resource, so that societal activities on the catchment are linked to the protection of instream flows. Streamflow variability plays a major role in structuring the habitat templates that sustain aquatic and riparian ecological functioning and has been associated with increased biodiversity. Biodiversity and societal well-being are interlinked. However, there is a need in EFA for knowledge of the most influential components of the streamflow regime in order that stakeholders may anticipate any change in ecosystem goods and services as a result of their disruption to the hydrological cycle. The identification of high information hydrological indicators for characterising highly variable streamflow regimes is useful to water resources management, particularly where thresholds of streamflow regime characteristics have ecological relevance. Several researchers have revisited the choice of hydrological indices in order to ascertain whether some indices explain more of the hydrological variability in different aspects of streamflow regimes than others. However, most of the research relating to hydrological indices has focused primarily on regions with temperate climates. In this thesis multivariate analysis is applied to a relatively large dataset of readily computed ecologically relevant hydrological indices (including the Indicators of Hydrological Alteration and the South African Desktop Reserve Model indices) extracted from long-term records of daily flows at 83 sites across South Africa. Principal Component Analysis is applied in order to highlight general patterns of intercorrelation, or redundancy, among the indices and to identify a minimum subset of hydrological indices which explain the majority of the variation among the indices of different components of the streamflow regimes found in South Africa. The results indicate the value of including several of the IHA indices in EFAs for South African rivers. Statistical analysis is meaningful only when calculated for a sufficiently long hydrological record, and in this thesis the length of record necessary to obtain consistent hydrological indices, with minimal influence of climatic variation, is investigated. The results provide a guide to the length of record required for analysis of the high information hydrological indices representing the main components of the streamflow regime, for different streamflow types. An ecosystem-based approach which recognises the hydrological connectivity of the catchment landscape in linking aquatic and terrestrial systems is proposed as a framework for ecologically sustainable water resources management. While this framework is intended to be generic, its potential for application in the South African Water Allocation Reform is illustrated with a case study for the Mkomazi Catchment in KwaZulu-Natal. Hydronomic sub-zoning, based on the way in which societal activities disrupt the natural hydrological processes, both off-stream and instream, is applied to assess the incompatibilities between societal and ecological freshwater needs. Reference hydrological, or pre-development, conditions in the Mkomazi Catchment are simulated using the ACRU agrohydrological model. Management targets, based on the statistical analysis of pre-development streamflow regimes, are defined to assess the degree of hydrological alteration in the high information hydrological indices of the Mkomazi Catchment as a result of different societal activities. Hydrological alteration from predevelopment conditions is assessed using the Range of Variability Approach. The results indicate that the proposed framework is useful to the formulation of stakeholder-based catchment management plans. Applying hydrological records (either observed or simulated) as an ecological resource is highly appropriate for assessing the variability that ecosystems need to maintain the biodiversity, ecological functioning and resilience that people and society desire. / Thesis (Ph.D.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2006.

In recent years within South Africa, good governance has become a governmental goal with sound public participation processes becoming a core element of good governance practices. As a result of this goal, most decision-making tools have an element of public participation within them: a Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) is one such tool. This study aimed to examine the governance processes within the draft Mkhondeni Stream Catchment (MSC) area SEA with particular reference to public participation. Five objectives were conceived to achieve this aim. The first objective involved an examination of the public participation processes as articulated by the legislation. The second objective involved an examination of the public participation processes of the draft MSC area SEA. The third objective was to determine whether the ‘deliberation’ or public participation process was adequate. The fourth objective was to investigate how the draft MSC area SEA was framed and reframed by key stakeholders. The fifth and last objective of this study was to reflect on the public participation process and how it may be strengthened. Against the background of a focused literature review on good governance practices, public participation and SEAs, the fieldwork undertaken involved a qualitative approach using key informant interviews and random community member’s interviews. The key informant interviews were held with what are widely considered to be the key stakeholders within the MSC area SEA process. Random interviews were held with Ashburton community members to add value to this study by allowing for a wider perspective from general community members to be understood. There were 5 objectives that are set out for this study and they were achieved. Objective 1 is achieved through an examination into the public participation processes as articulated by the Provincial Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism (DEAT) and legislation. The findings reveal that there is sufficient legislation and processes with regards to public participation in terms of Environmental Impact Assessments (EIAs); however it is noted that there is a lack of clarity with regards to the public participation processes and legislation within the SEA process and at present there are only recommendations for best practice. Objective 2 and 3 are achieved as they dealt with the understanding and adequacy of the public participation processes within the draft Mkhondeni SEA. The findings generated allow for the public participation methods and process used to be noted and in relation to the methods and process used the public participation process was deemed to be inadequate as it did not meet the minimum requirements stipulated by legislation in terms of public participation within an environmental assessment as well as the recommendations for best practice. Objective 4 is achieved by investigating how the draft SEA is framed by the key stakeholders. Out of the results the emerging themes that were identified within this study were that of: (a) Misrepresentation of the community by the Preservation of the Mkondeni Mpushini Biodiversity Trust (PMMBT); (b) the SEA being viewed as a learning process in which a lack of clarity emerged amongst interested and affected parties (I & APs) about the exact process that needed to be carried out to achieve the SEA; (c) a lack of trust in the government to take the comments of the community into consideration; (d) the importance of education within society about environmental tools, such as the SEA, and their uses; and (e) the need for social development to be considered alongside environmental concerns within the Ashburton area. And lastly, objective 5 is achieved as the public participation process within the draft SEA is reflected upon and recommendations are made. These recommendations deal with the following: (1) Involvement in the Formulation of the ToR, (2) Identification of I & APs, (3) Feedback, (4) Capacity Building and Education needs and (5) Management of the SEA Process. The intention of the researcher is that the knowledge derived from engaging with interviewees and from researching relevant literature will be used to improve future decision-making processes with the overall aim of improving the relationship between the relevant authorities and communities affected by so-called development. / Thesis (M.Env.Dev.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2008.

South Africa's water resources are unequally distributed over space and time to a high degree and our already stressed water resources situation will only be exacerbated by climate change if current predictions are correct. The potential for conflict over increasingly strained water resources in South Africa is thus very real. In order to deal with these complex problems national legislation is demanding that water resource management be decentralized to the local level where active participation can take place in an integrated manner in accordance with the principles of IWRM. However, administrative and political boundaries rarely match those of catchments as, throughout South Africa, rivers have been employed extensively to delineate administrative and political boundaries at a number of spatial scales. The aim of this research is to determine if rivers act as dividing or uniting features in a socio-political landscape and whether topography will influence their role in this context. By considering sections of the Orange-Senqu River, some of which are employed as political or administrative boundaries, this project furthermore aims to consider the implications of this for catchment management in South Africa. South Africa's proposed form of decentralized water management will have to contend with the effects of different topographies on the way in which rivers are perceived and utilized. The ability of a river to act as a dividing or uniting feature is dependent on a number of interrelated factors, the effects of which are either reduced or enhanced by the topography surrounding the river. Factors such as the state of the resource, levels of utilization, local histories and the employment of the river as a political or administrative border are all factors that determine the extent to which a river unites or divides the communities along its banks, and are all influenced by topography. The implications of this for the management of catchments in South Africa are significant. Local water management institutions will have to contend with a mismatch in borders and in many cases bridge social divides that are deeply entrenched along the banks of rivers. Importantly, the need for a context specific approach to catchment management is highlighted.

Public water utilities are tasked with providing high quality, inexpensive water often sourced from watersheds representing a diverse mix of public and private land ownership. There is increasing recognition amongst water resource managers of the role that private landowners play in determining downstream water quality, but bringing together landowners with a wide variety of land management objectives under the umbrella of watershed stewardship has proven difficult. Recently, a large number of "Payment for Watershed Services" programs have aimed to engage private landowners in watershed stewardship initiatives by offering financial incentives for adopting watershed best management practices. However, a growing field of research suggests that financial incentives alone may be of limited utility to encourage widespread and long-standing behavior change, and instead understanding landowner attitudes and non-financial barriers to stewardship program enrollment has become a focus of research. This research examines a population of rural landowners representing a diversity of agricultural, forestry, recreational, and investment objectives in the Clackamas River watershed, Oregon. I designed and distributed a mail and web-based survey instrument intended to measure land uses and land ownership objectives, attitudes towards watershed stewardship programs, barriers to enrollment in stewardship programs, and preferred incentives and goals that would promote enrollment. I received 281 valid responses for a response rate of 29%. I conducted two primary analyses: one focused on relating attitudes and barriers to intent to enroll in a watershed stewardship program, and one focused on identifying how diverse landowners differ according to factors influencing enrollment in stewardship programs. I found that landowners did not report financial considerations to be a primary barrier to enrollment and expressed low interest in receiving financial incentives. Instead, landowners reported that primary barriers related to lack of trust, ecological understanding, and concerns that stewardship program enrollment would be incompatible with their land management objectives. I do not discount the potential utility of financial incentives under certain circumstances, but emphasize the importance of addressing these other considerations before incentives can make a meaningful impact. I compared how barriers to enrollment were perceived by landowners with different land management objectives relating to production, investment, and conservation. I found that landowner attitudes were differentiated from one another primarily by their use of land for production purposes; however, I found a large amount of diversity between producers and non-producers in the degree to which they considered investment and conservation objectives in their land management, and these two variables added further explanatory power to understanding fine-scale differences in how landowner typologies relate to conservation programs.

Thesis (M. Tech. - (Civil Engineering, Faculty of Engineering and Technology))--Vaal University of Technology, 2010. / During the last few years, concern has been growing among many stakeholders all over the world about declining levels of surface water bodies accompanied by reduced water availability predominantly due to ever increasing demand and misuse. Furthermore, overexploitation of environmental resources and haphazard dumping of waste has made the little water remaining to be so contaminated that a dedicated rehabilitation/remediation of the environment is the only proactive way forward. River Rwizi Catchment is an environment in the focus of this statement. The overall objective of this research was to plan, restore and rationally allocate the water resources in any river basin with similar attributes to the study area. In this research, Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) methodology was applied through Watershed/Basin Simulation Models for general river basins. The model chosen and used after subjection to several criteria was DHI Model, MIKE BASIN 2009 Version. It was then appropriately developed through calibration on data from the study catchment, input data formatting and its adaptation to the catchment characteristics. The methodology involved using spatio-temporal demographic and hydrometeorological data. It was established that the model can be used to predict the impact of projects on the already existing enviro-hydrological system while assigning priority to water users and usage as would be deemed necessary, which is a significant procedure in IWRM-based environmental rehabilitation/remediation. The setback was that the available records from the various offices visited had a lot of data gaps that would affect the degree of accuracy of the output. These gaps were appropriately infilled and gave an overall output that was adequate for inferences made therefrom. Several scenarios tested included; use and abstraction for the present river situation, the effect of wet/dry seasons on the resultant water available for use, and proposed projects being constructed on and along the river. Results indicated that the river had insufficient flow to sustain both the current and proposed water users. It was concluded that irrespective of over exploitation, lack of adequate rainfall was not a reason for the low discharge but rather the loss of rainwater as evaporation, storage in swamps/wetlands, and a considerable amount of water recharging groundwater aquifers. Thus, the proposed remedy is to increase the exploitation of the groundwater resource in the area and reduce the number of direct river water users, improve farming methods and conjunctive use of groundwater and surface water - the latter as a dam on River Rwizi. The advantage of the dam is that the water usage can be controlled as necessary in contrast to unregulated direct abstraction, thus reducing the risk of subsequent over-exploitation. / Vaal University of Technology