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With the emergence of the new field of resource economics, one now has the ability to value and to include natural resources in decision making. This thesis aims to explore the valuation of natural resources by reviewing the economic values, techniques, methods and ecological aspects of restoration. Assegaaibos mountain catchment in the Western Cape Province has been used as a case-study example. A cost-benefit analysis of the restoration of the mountain catchment, in terms of the direct benefits of water and tourism, has been performed. The costs of restoration were observed to see whether they outweighed the benefits (income) derived (water and tourism). The results show that the water and tourism benefits did outweigh the costs of a basic restoration scenario. However, the basic restoration scenario did not fulfil the ecological requirements of the project. The results also illustrated that in the moderate restoration scenario, costs only outweighed the benefits when a three percent discount rate was applied. With the optimistic restoration scenario, costs outweighed benefits only when an eight percent discount rate was used. In the comprehensive restoration scenario, costs were shown to outweigh by far the water and tourism benefits over a thirty-year time frame. However, it should be noted that the deterioration of the environment (accelerated erosion, reinvasion, reduced water quality) was not factored into the costs of failure to rehabilitate.

A road in operation along with its traffic can pose aserious pollutant threat to groundwater and surface water inits vicinity. Examples of pollutants are metals from thecorrosion of vehicles, rails and poles and the wear of roadsurfaces and tyres; hydrocarbons from the wear of roadsurfaces, tyres, exhausts, oils; sodium chloride from roadsalt; and hazardous goods discharged in accidents. Eventuallypollutants that are not degraded or retarded in soil will reachgroundwater and surface water. The chloride ion in deicing saltis a good tracer. It is conservative and highly soluble and notsubject to retardation or degradation. If the chlorideconcentration has increased in groundwater or surface water inthe vicinity of a deiced road, other road-related pollutantsmight also be present in the water. Increased chloride concentrations have been observed inseveral water supplies, in groundwater as well as in surfacewater, since the 1970s. The number of affected water supplieshas also increased. The increase in chloride concentration inwaters is concurrent with the increase in deicing saltapplication and it is clear that most of the increase is due tothe application of deicing salt. The thesis presents a simple tool that quantified theincrease in chloride concentration for water in a catchmentarea, based on a steady-state water balance. The data wereefficiently processed and presented as maps with GIS. At aregional catchment area scale, substantially increased chlorideconcentrations were calculated. The variation between catchmentareas was verified by a national monitoring programme of lakes.Deicing salt application was estimated to account for more thanhalf of the total chloride load for a catchment area in the midsouth of Sweden. A distributed dynamic method was used to evaluate thetemporal and spatial variation of the chloride concentration inan aquifer. The distributed dynamic approach integrated thespreading of deicing salt from the road with the infiltrationin the unsaturated zone in the soil, which in turn wasintegrated with the groundwater flow. The simulation was runfor a 40-year period and showed a potential to describe aspecific system. <b>Keywords:</b>road, deicing salt, monitoring, chloride,catchment area, river basin, simulation, GIS, groundwater,surface water

<p>A road in operation along with its traffic can pose aserious pollutant threat to groundwater and surface water inits vicinity. Examples of pollutants are metals from thecorrosion of vehicles, rails and poles and the wear of roadsurfaces and tyres; hydrocarbons from the wear of roadsurfaces, tyres, exhausts, oils; sodium chloride from roadsalt; and hazardous goods discharged in accidents. Eventuallypollutants that are not degraded or retarded in soil will reachgroundwater and surface water. The chloride ion in deicing saltis a good tracer. It is conservative and highly soluble and notsubject to retardation or degradation. If the chlorideconcentration has increased in groundwater or surface water inthe vicinity of a deiced road, other road-related pollutantsmight also be present in the water.</p><p>Increased chloride concentrations have been observed inseveral water supplies, in groundwater as well as in surfacewater, since the 1970s. The number of affected water supplieshas also increased. The increase in chloride concentration inwaters is concurrent with the increase in deicing saltapplication and it is clear that most of the increase is due tothe application of deicing salt.</p><p>The thesis presents a simple tool that quantified theincrease in chloride concentration for water in a catchmentarea, based on a steady-state water balance. The data wereefficiently processed and presented as maps with GIS. At aregional catchment area scale, substantially increased chlorideconcentrations were calculated. The variation between catchmentareas was verified by a national monitoring programme of lakes.Deicing salt application was estimated to account for more thanhalf of the total chloride load for a catchment area in the midsouth of Sweden.</p><p>A distributed dynamic method was used to evaluate thetemporal and spatial variation of the chloride concentration inan aquifer. The distributed dynamic approach integrated thespreading of deicing salt from the road with the infiltrationin the unsaturated zone in the soil, which in turn wasintegrated with the groundwater flow. The simulation was runfor a 40-year period and showed a potential to describe aspecific system.</p><p><b>Keywords:</b>road, deicing salt, monitoring, chloride,catchment area, river basin, simulation, GIS, groundwater,surface water</p>

High latitude soils are estimated to store a considerable part of the global pool of soil organic carbon (SOC). Studies of global and regional SOC pools have estimated total inventories in northern Sweden’s subarctic region to fall within 10-50 kg m-2. However, correction factors for stone and boulder content of soils are often overlooked in SOC-studies and soil profiles are commonly normalized to a depth of 1 m, which can result in substantial overestimates of the SOC pool if a large part of the soil volume is occupied by stones/boulders or if the soil depth is shallower than 1 m. This study was performed to quantify SOC in soils of the Torneträsk catchment area using detailed measures of soil depth and stone/boulder contents. Two non-destructive sampling methods, ground penetrating radar (GPR) and rod penetration, were used to measure soil depth and stone and boulder content in the catchment area. Results show that average soil depth (n = 52344) varied between 0.95 – 2.14 m depending on elevation and the average mire depth was 0.63 m. Stone and boulder content of the soil was estimated to 49 – 68 % depending on elevation. The results were added to existing carbon and soil density data from the Torneträsk catchment area and total SOC inventories were calculated to 6.8 – 13.1 kg m-2. The results of this study indicate that previous studies on regional and global scale may have overestimated the SOC pools in the subarctic regions of northern Sweden.

This master thesis deals with the influence of temporal distribution of precipitation on hydrological characteristics of the rainfall-runoff process. The practical part of the thesis was carried out on the drainage basin Volšovka. In the theoretical part, the origin, division, and temporal distribution of rainfall is described, as well as surface runoff and some chosen hydrological characteristics of flow-off. Moreover the work deals with hydrological simulation, there is also described in further detail the rainfall-runoff model HEC-HMS, which is furthermore used in the practical part of this thesis. In the practical part, the characteristics of the area of interest is introduced. Next is described the preparation of the rainfall data with the use of DES_RAIN programme, also creation of the digital model of the terrain in the ArcGIS programme and the preparation of hydrological model in HEC-HMS model. In the conclusion of the thesis, the flow capacities of the closure profile of Volšovka were simulated, as well as other particular closure profiles of the catchment area. There were 16 simulations carried out, which were evaluated on the basis of the peak flow capacities and the time of culmination.

The subject of this thesis is the erosion control as the element of the ecologic stability. The target of this thesis is to determine the amount of the soil, which is being lost from lands in Štěkře cadastral area as consequence of the surface runoff. I use the universal soil loss equation from Wischmeier and Smith for calculations. I also calculate the cubature runoff from the micro catchment area according to Čerkašin and the transport of floating solids according to Williams and Berndt. I propose the antierosion precautions for lands which have got the measure of erosion bigger then acceptable value. I compare all findings before and after the antierosion precautions.

>Magister Scientiae - MSc / Several attempts have been made to assess the impact of post-fire soil erosion; however, erosion occurs as a result of the complex interplay between many factors, such as climate, land cover, soil and topography, making precise estimation difficult. Additionally, these factors are far from constant in space and time, and often interact with one another. To assess the impact of wildfire on soil erosion and factors influencing its variability, the post-fire soil erosion response of two mountainous headwater sub-catchments namely Langrivier and Tierkloof, with different vegetation cover in the Jonkershoek Valley was examined using a systematic approach that combines efforts in field and laboratory work, spatial analysis and process-based numerical modelling. Geospatial modelling shows high spatial variability in erosion risk, with 56 % to 67 % of surfaces being highly susceptible excluding rock cover. The model highlights the importance of terrain and vegetation indices, with predicted erosion being more severe on steep slopes with lower vegetation cover. / 2021-08-30

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Thesis subject is the evaluation of runoff and flood regime of rivers Lužnice and Skřemelice at the closing profiles just before their confluences. The results are compared with findings from the profile Pilař, which were published in the past by other authors. More attention is paid to the evaluation of the hydrological year 2013 and in detail is described the flood in June of the same year. Daily flow data from the years 1971 - 2014 were used for evaluating of runoff conditions. The assessment of the runoff regime in terms of daily, monthly and annual flows were compared with the runoff regime in Pilař gauge station. The source regions with dominating influence on the resulting runoff were discovered. Analysis of the flood regime confirmed that spring floods in Lužnice came mainly from upland and hilly parts of catchment and large summer floods have main source area in the catchment of Lužnice river itself, before the confluence of the Lužnice river and Skřemelic river. When assessing flood in 2013, the main source areas of flood flows that hit Lužnice river basin were founded. The flood extremity was compared in each closing profiles.