Soil material exported from river catchments by soil erosion is a key issue in environmental sustainability. Although soil erosion processes have been thoroughly investigated, their dynamics, specifically the continuity of erosion processes and sediment source locality, are less studied. The aim of this investigation was to evaluate the changes in the fluxes and characteristics of sediments during their downslope and downstream transport. The study was conducted in a 1000 ha catchment of the Drakensberg foothills, South Africa. Sediment fluxes were monitored at nested scales during the 2009-2011 rainy seasons using 1×1m and 2×5 m erosion plots and H-flumes coupled to automatic samplers from 23 ha, 100 ha catchments. In addition, soil texture, colour and total organic carbon and nitrogen contents in sediments exported from the nested scales and a 1000 ha catchment were compared to in-situ surface and sub-surface soil horizons in a 23 ha catchment river bank and hillslope soils and fluvial sediments. There was a sharp increase of sediment fluxes with increasing slope length (846±201 gm-1y-1 for 1 m2 vs 6820±1714 gm-1y-1 for 10 m2), revealing a limited contribution of splash erosion compared to rain-impacted flow erosion. Sediment fluxes decreased to 500±100 gm-1y-1 and 100±10 gm-1y-1 at the 23 ha and 100 ha catchments respectively, indicating the occurrence of sedimentation during sediment downslope and downstream transport. A principal component analysis (PCA) suggested that rain impacted flow erosion efficiency at the 10 m2 scale was significantly correlated with soil bulk density, clay content and antecedent rainfall (P<0.05). Moreover, strong correlations existed between runoff, sediment concentration and soil loss and selected soil surface and environmental variables at the plot scales. Correlations became weaker at the catchment scales due to increasing landscape heterogeneity and the complexity of soil erosion dynamics. An additional PCA suggested that stream bank erosion contributed to 63% of the soil loss from the 23 ha catchment. During their downstream transport, sediments were discriminated by the second PCA axis, which correlated with the clay and fine silt content, 100 ha sediments showed negative coordinates to this axis while 1000 ha catchment sediment had positive coordinates. / Thesis (M.Sc.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2011.

The Umdloti River is relatively small but very important system that is located northeast of central Durban. This river flows pass the coastal town of Verulam and finally into an open/closed estuary, the La Mercy estuary. This fluvial system has a concrete gravity dam that is built in the upper reaches, the Hazelmere Dam, which supplies water to the north local council and surrounding districts under the supervision of Umgeni Water. The river is characterized by human activities, especially urbanisation and industrialization in the middle reaches and intensive agriculture (vegetables, sugar cane and banana plantations) along the catchment. The influence of anthropogenic factors within this catchment results from the dam construction, informal settlements, both commercial and subsistence agriculture, intensive industrial activity, accelerated urban developments, and recreational uses. Consequently there has been considerable concern regarding the impacts of these factors together with natural influences on the water quality and health status of this fluvial system. In this study water samples were taken and analysed for the following variables: nitrites; nitrates; ammonia; pH; Escherichia coli; sulphate; phosphate; total dissolved solids; chemical oxygen demand; biological oxygen demand; calcium and magnesium. The results indicate that the middle and the lower reaches of the Umdloti River are most impacted. Further, results from a questionnaire survey indicate that natural and human induced impacts have impacted negatively on the health status of the Umdloti River. The questionnaire survey also revealed that respondents benefited positively from the construction of the dam whilst the expropriation of land for the construction of the dam itself created much resentment to the prior land owners. The water quality data and the questionnaire analysis indicate overall natural and human induced impacts have had negative effects on the Umdloti River and the La Mercy estuary. It is necessary that local municipal authorities introduce corrective catchment management practices (outlined in the final chapter of the study) to enhance the water quality and health status of the river. / Thesis (M.Sc.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Westville, 2009.

A proper understanding of the spatial and temporal variations of runoff and nutrient fluxes are critical in understanding catchment hydrology. Runoff and nutrient fluxes may exhibit large variations both spatially and temporally, but this issue has largely been overlooked in the existing literature. The present study intends to respond to two main research objectives: (a) improve the understanding of the spatial and temporal variations (i.e. the dynamics) of overland flow (OF) and its factors of control and (b) quantify the evolution of runoff, nutrient and sediment fluxes from hillslope crest to catchment outlet. The research study was undertaken in a 1000 ha agricultural catchment of the Drakensberg foothills in the Bergville District, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa under rangeland, small scale agriculture and commercial agriculture. The first objective was to evaluate the dynamics of OF during four rainfall seasons (2007 to 2011) by using 1×1m² microplots (n=15) located at five landscape positions within the rangeland upper part of the catchment. Automatic tipping buckets linked to a datalogger were used to estimate the delay between the start of the rain and the start of OF, which corresponded to the time of runoff initiation (TRI). Multivariate analysis was applied to the OF data and the information on selected environmental factors (rainfall characteristics, selected soil physical properties, soil water content and soil surface conditions). Nested scales of 1 and 10 m2 plots, and 23, 100 and 1000 ha catchments equipped with buckets for plots and conventional H-flumes for catchments, were used to quantify the downstream evolution of water and nutrient (C, NO3 - and P) fluxes. The fluxes were compared with data from the shallow and deep groundwater (GW) collected from piezometers and boreholes, respectively. This allowed for the determination of the mixing sources at the three catchment outlets, using stable isotopes of water (to differentiate between old and new water) and silica concentrations to identify soil water (SW) contributions. The average OF rate varied 2.3-fold across the Potshini Catchment (from 15% footslope to 35% backslope), while the average TRI varied by a 10.6-fold factor (between 0.6 minutes in the bottomland and 6.4 minutes at the footslope position). TRI temporal variations correlated the most with the duration of rainfall (Pearson r coefficient of 0.8) and the cumulative amount of rainfall after the onset of the rainy season (r=-0.47), while TRI spatial variations were significantly controlled by soil crusting (-0.97<r<-0.77). Water fluxes were found to increase iii from the microplot scale (208 l/m2) to the runoff plot scale (350 l/m2, delivery ratio of 1.68). The scale ratios calculated for the period of 2010-2011 show that there was a steady decrease in the delivery of water from the hillslope scale to the catchment scale. Cumulative water fluxes were found to be 316 l/m2 at the 23 ha catchment and 284 l/m2 at the 100 ha catchment (delivery ratios of 0.90 and 0.89 respectively). Water fluxes decreased sharply to 198 l/m2 at the 1000 ha catchment outlets (delivery ratio of 0.70). Runoff at the 23 ha catchment outlet was sourced from the mixing of GW (average of 63%), OF (22%) and SW (15%.) At the 100 ha outlet, GW contributions decreased to 50%, while OF contributions remained constant at 22% and SW contributions increased to 28%. The main contributor at the 1000 ha catchment was GW (55%) followed by SW (37%) and OF (8%). During the strongest rainfall event of the study period, OF contributed 97% to total runoff at the 23 ha catchment outlet, whilst at the 100 ha catchment, OF and SW both contributed 50% each. Groundwater in all cases was the major contributor to runoff at the 1000 ha catchment outlet. Both dissolved organic Carbon (DOC) and particulate organic Carbon (POC) increased from the microplot (8.44 and 25.51 g/m2 for DOC and POC) to the plot scale (14.92 and 26.91 g/m2). Lower yields occurred at the 23 ha catchment than on the hillslope (5.03 g/m2 and 8.18 g/m2). From the 23 and 100 ha catchment outlets, POC sharply decreased to 0.06 g/m2, while DOC increased considerably to 9.58 g/m2. This pointed to the decomposition of POC, which not only releases CO2 to the atmosphere but also adds DOC to runoff. At the 1000 ha catchment, POC yields were minimal due to a lack of eroded sediments whilst DOC decreased slightly (6.42 g/m2). These results yield a better understanding of the processes of water, nutrient and Carbon movements within landscapes. A further understanding of the processes leading to changes of nutrient and carbon fluxes needs to be performed in order to link this study with the overall ecosystem functioning of a landscape. / Thesis (M.Sc.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2012.

The participation of the public has become widely accepted through legislation as a critical component of managing water resources in South Africa. However, achieving meaningful participation continues to be a challenge especially for the previously disadvantaged communities. Participants from these communities, through legislative requirements have the opportunity to participate and make contribution in water management arena with little emphasis of their level of knowledge in understanding the information presented in the participation processes. The level of knowledge and understanding of participants has been found by Anderson (2005) and Faysse (2005) to affect meaningful participation in the water management arena. There have been, however, few empirical studies (Anderson, 2005; Faysse, 2005) to find out whether the disadvantaged community participants feel their participation in water management institutions such as the catchment management forum (CMF) is meaningful. Meaningful public participation has increasingly been used in public participation literature to describe the quality of participation process Solitare, (2005), Canadian Association of Petroleum Produces (CAPP) (2004) and Videira et al. (2003). Authors have generally avoided strictly defining the adjective ‘meaningful’ in relation to public participation. Authors have however, concentrated on attributes of the concept which includes: the ability of the participation process to meet the expectation of the participants, inclusiveness of stakeholder, trust among participants in a participation process, participation process contribution to learning of participants and opportunity for participants to improve quality of decision. The purpose of this research was to find out whether the disadvantaged community participants find their participation in the Msunduzi Catchment Management Forum (MCMF) to be meaningful. To achieve this aim, the specific objectives of the study were: • firstly, to determine whether the participation processes meet the expectations of the participants; • secondly, to determine whether the MCMF is inclusive of those having an interest in catchment management issues; • thirdly, to determine whether there is trust among participants in the participation processes; • fourthly, to determine whether participants have access to and understand appropriate and relevant information given at the forum; and • lastly, to determine whether participants are notified about the forum early and adequate time given for sharing of information in the process. A review of relevant literature on this research issues was conducted. A qualitative research approach was used to address the goals of the research, including a semistructured interview of stakeholders of the MCMF. The semi-structured interviews were conducted with participants from the disadvantaged community, industry, municipality, DWAF and members of other non-governmental organizations that are not from the disadvantaged community. The other stakeholders who are not from the disadvantaged communities were included in the studies to find out whether they are aware of the perspectives of the disadvantaged community participants on the meaningfulness of the MCMF. Another objective for including these stakeholder groups was to find out whether they share the same views as those from the disadvantaged community on the meaningfulness of the MCMF. The results from the interviews were used to determine whether participants from the disadvantaged communities find their participation in the MCMF to be meaningful. The results established five key finding from the research. Firstly, the disadvantaged community participants do not see their involvement in the MCMF to be meaningful. Secondly, the disadvantage community participants have expectations that have not yet been met. Thirdly, there is a degree of differences in relationship among stakeholders based on educational background which is affecting networking and trust building. Fourthly, the lack of understanding of the information presented at the forum by the disadvantaged community participants, and lastly improper medium and timing of notification by DWAF. These were found to be the major factors affecting disadvantaged community participants’ meaningful participation in the MCMF. This research has recommended five key means through which the MCMF public participation process can be improved which are based on the conclusions of this research. It is recommended that: 1. Expectations of participants especially those from the disadvantaged community on the functions of a catchment management forum should be addressed urgently. 2. Degree of differences that exist among some participants especially those from the disadvantaged community that educational background influence views presented by a participant should be dealt with through measures such as field trips. 3. Technical information is presented in a medium that disadvantaged community participants can understand. 4. The medium of notification used to ensure effective public participation at the MCMF be addressed. 5. DWAF evaluates the MCMF participations process to find out the level of satisfaction among participants. / Thesis (M.Env.Dev.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2007.

Non point source pollution (NPS) has long been the negated form of pollution within our natural systems. With an increase in the demand for quality crops and staple foods, there have been added pressures on water systems to cope with increasing NPS pollution (NPS-P). The effect and importance of scale on the assessment of NPS pollution has been identified as a pivotal component in the assessment of such pollutants, in particular the translation of processes from a field to a catchment scale. It has therefore become important to further investigate and research the processes involved in transporting and retaining pollutants at each measurement scale. A number of models have been developed for simulation catchments, however none of the suitably address the issue of NPS pollution and the translation of processes from the field through to the catchment scale. Each model researched fails to effectively address processes over varying scales, and tend to concentrate on a particular scale of observation. There is a distinct lack of a capable mechanism that assesses NPS pollution across varying scales within a catchment. The Water Research Commission (WRC) NPS-P project aims at eventually developing a successful model that addresses the issue of assessing NPS pollution across a number of different scales. This study aimed at assessing the loads of sediments and nutrients at different scales and included the establishment of a research catchment in the Mkabela Catchment outside Wartburg in KwaZulu-Natal, and the collection and interpretation of rainfall, runoff and nitrate data for a full year of sampling. The sampling provided valuable data for the calculation of pollutant masses and concentrations within the Mkabela Catchment. Non Point Sources are generally more dilute with suspended solids and nitrate in particular tending to have a high transport dependence upon summer events with a high intensity and low duration. A varying degree of scales were monitored during this study, ranging from plot to catchment scale in order to assess the varying influences on NPS Pollution (Nitrate and Suspended Solids). Monitoring was conducted through research mechanisms ranging from runoff plots at the plot scale to catchment scale flumes. It was found that scale has a varying influence on NPS pollution, with pollutant concentrations measured to be at a maximum at the field scale, with a value of 13.54mg/l of nitrate measured within the cane fields from event 3. Suspended solid values taken from within the water samples were most apparent at the plot scale, within the runoff plots, with a maximum of 2866.7mg/l measured during event 3 as well. It was evident from measurements and results obtained for each of the 10 sampled events that the main influencing factor of the nitrate concentrations and suspended solid values was the nature of the event. Summer rainfall events (high intensity and short duration) provided large overland flow volume that contributed largely towards the high concentrations of both nitrate and suspended solids, whereas the winter rainfall event (low intensity and long duration) contributed little to the concentrations of nitrate and suspended solids. In contrast to nitrate concentration, the largest nitrate loads by mass were measured during event 1 at the large catchment scale (Bridge 2), with a total cumulative load of 74.17kg nitrate estimated to have been yielded at the catchment outlet. The majority of nitrate are yielded from the agricultural lands where farming practices lead to the application of chemicals preplanting and post emergence. Suspended solids displayed a similar trend to that of nitrate, with an increasing cumulative yield measured throughout the catchment, resulting in a total 13414kg of sediment being measured at Bridge 2. It is interesting that Event 1 measured the largest cumulative loads for both nitrate and suspended solids; however it was recorded as an average intensity event (19.1mm/h) in comparison to the largest sampled intensity event of 165.9mm/h (Event 4) during the study. This may be attributed to the fact that the event coincided with the planting schedule of the sugarcane crops, and so the bare nature of the agricultural fields resulted in increased overland flow, and hence nitrate and suspended solid transportation. Data collected during all the events clearly show that the impoundment (a farm dam) acts as a water quality filter by retaining many of the nitrate pollutants when they enter the dam as channel flow. In summary, the controlling processes governing NPS-P movement varied through the differing scales, with crop size, artificial chemical application, nature of the event and timing during the year all contributing in varying manners at the differing scales. Future research within the WRC-NPS-P project should continue with sampling from the designated research points and add several more seasons of data to the already comprehensive first season of sampling. In addition, once a reasonable number of seasons have been sampled and analysed within the Mkabela Catchment, the initiation and development of an effective, representative scaled NPS-P model that addresses the movement and retardation of pollutants is necessary to be able to successfully model and predict the movement of NPS-P through catchment systems. In particular the effects of the controls afforded by such features as road crossings, wetlands and farm dams should be taken into account in the modelling of sediment and nutrient movement from field to catchment scale. / Thesis (M.Sc.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2011.

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.

Identifying areas of the hillslope that are most sensitive to soil erosion and contribute significantly to sediment yield is a primary concern in environmental protection and conservation. Therefore the ability to predict the magnitude and variability of soil erosion and sediment yield is important to catchment managers in order to select the appropriate conservation practices that keep soil erosion and sediment yield within the tolerable limits. A number of models have been developed for simulating soil erosion and sediment yield from a catchment. However, none of them are universally applicable and most of them require extensive data which are extremely costly, time consuming and sometimes not available except in research catchments. Hence it was concluded that the combined use of an empirically based soil loss model, RUSLE, Geographic Information Systems (GIS) techniques, and a Sediment Delivery Ratio (SDR) concept would be a candidate modelling tool, which would be a compromise between the advantages of simplicity, data availability, the complex spatial variability of hydrological and geomorphological characteristics of a catchment and the economic limitation of field data measurements in sediment yield studies. Such a modelling tool was developed in this research and was able to identify sediment source areas and predict annual sediment yield from catchments. Data from the Henley catchment, South Africa have been used for demonstrating the potential use of the model in soil erosion and sediment yield studies. Arcview GIS grid functions were used to define the flow direction, accumulation, pathways, and velocity in a catchment as a function of topography and land use and to describe spatially variable input and output information. In addition the Arcview GIS grid function was used to discretise the catchment into hydrologically homogeneous grid cells to capture the catchment heterogeneity. The gross soil erosion in each cell was calculated using the soil loss model RUSLE while a distributed topography based SDR parameter was used to determine the mass of eroded sediment that would be transported to the nearest stream and ultimately to the catchment outlet. The average annual soil loss and sediment yield values were 26 t. ha-1.yr -1 and 1.6 t. ha-1.yr -1 respectively. High soil erosion and sediment yield rates are evident in the residential and agricultural areas, which are characterised by degradation due to overgrazing and traditional and peri-urban settlements with mixed crops. The average annual SDR value was 0.19 for the Henley catchment and large SDR values are associated with areas adjacent to the channel system. This can be explained by recognizing that the SDR is significantly influenced by characteristics of the drainage system. Comparison of event based simulations of sediment yields to those estimated from measurements demonstrated that the proposed model predictions ranged between 13 % and 60 % of the measured estimates, consistently over predicting. This is because the SDR component of the model is developed as a mean annual parameter, assuming that over a long period a stream system must intimately transport all the sediments delivered to it. Hence the channel network sediment delivery parameters would have to be considered at short temporal scales. Comparing the results of the model prediction against other sediment modelling techniques in South Africa demonstrated the usefulness of the model as an effective catchment management tool. The model has advantages over these other techniques since it includes a distributed grid based component, which enables the identification of sediment source areas in the catchment. The sensitivity analysis shows that the model was highly sensitive to parameters derived from topography and land use of the catchment. Future research with the model should include further testing and analysis of its components on different catchments. The topography based SDR concept which is a key component in sediment routing for prediction of either long term average sediment yield or isolated storm event simulation from a catchment warrants specific attention. Effort in future should focus on identifying parameters which affect the sediment delivery within a catchment. This may be achieved by incorporating processes describing the movement of sediments in the channel network of the catchment. / Thesis (M.Sc.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2004.