Thesis (MSc)--Stellenbosch University, 2005. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Water resources in South Africa are limited and groundwater plays an important role in supporting basic human needs, sustaining ecosystems and enabling industrial and agricultural development. Sound management practices are necessary to ensure sustainable development of water resources. All groundwater usage must be licensed in compliance with the National Water Act of 1998. A Spatial Decision Support System (SDSS) can be used to assist in the groundwater usage licensing process of the Department of Water Affairs and Forestry (DWAF). The main aim of this study was to develop a SDSS, named Groundwater Abstraction & Licence Evaluation Tool (GALET), that could assist in the process of allocating water use licences and determining the local impact of abstraction, based on existing theory and data. The development was done within ArcView 3.2 using the scripting language Avenue. The Sandveld, an arid stretch of land along the west coast of South Africa that is heavily impacted by groundwater abstraction, was the chosen study area. The data collected for this study included existing borehole, recharge, rainfall and geological information. GALET proved to be capable of calculating essential information needed to evaluate groundwater abstraction, which included drawdown in the water table, zone of influence and the possible effects on features such as rivers and wetlands. Targeted potential users regarded GALET as a useful tool in the process of licensing and groundwater abstraction impact assessment and plans are under way to implement GALET or a derivative thereof at the DWAF regional offices. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Waterhulpbronne in Suid-Afrika is beperk en grondwater speel 'n belangrike rol in die ondersteuning van basiese menslike behoeftes, volhouding van ekosisteme asook industriële en landbou-ontwikkeling. Betroubare bestuurspraktyke is noodsaaklik om die volhoubare ontwikkeling van waterhulpbronne te verseker. Alle grondwatergebruik moet volgens die Nasionale Waterwet van 1998 gelisensieer word. 'n Ruimtelike Besluitnemings Ondersteuning Stelsel (RBOS) kan as 'n hulpmiddel gebruik word in die lisensiëringsproses van die Departement van Waterwese en Bosbou. Die hoofdoel van hierdie studie was om 'n RBOS, genoem Groundwater Abstraction & Licence Evaluation Tool (GALET), te ontwikkel wat as hulpmiddel gebruik kan word in die allokeringsproses van watergebruiklisensies en die bepaling van die impak van grondwateronttrekking op die omgewing, gebaseer op bestaande teorie en data. Die ontwikkeling is in ArcView 3.2 met die programmeringstaal Avenue gedoen. Die Sandveld, 'n ariede streek aan die weskus van Suid-Afrika wat onderhewig is aan grootskaalse grondwateronttrekking, is gekies as die studie area. Die data wat vir hierdie studie ingesamel is sluit bestaande boorgat, grondwateraanvulling, reënval en geologiese inligting in. GALET was in staat om belangrike inligting aangaande die evaluering van grondwateronttrekking te bereken, o.a. die daling van die grondwatervlak, die impaksone en die moontlike effekte op landvorms soos riviere en vleilande. Die teikengroep potensiële gebruikers het GALET as 'n nuttige hulpmiddel in die proses van lisensiëring en grondwateronttrekking impakbepaling beskou en planne is onderweg om dit of 'n aangepaste program by die streekskantore van die Departement van Waterwese en Bosbou te implementeer.

Computing / M. Sc. (Information Systems)

Creating the concept of buildings is the primary task of architects, designers in the field of architecture and engineering. Although the basic requirements remain the same across time , possibilities of their solution are constantly evolving and changing. In addition, with the increasing globalization, in context of the housing and the architecture is expected new requirements go beyond the horizons of the interests of bouth investor and designer. Global view of each project and the evaluation of its traces left in our environment and society, although is much discussed but rarely taken into account or even just considered. In this context, we are witnessing the development of new trends of the concepts of buildings, consisting in the use of natural materials, in reducing the environmental burden of a surroundings, in reducing energy demands, or even in an effort to achieve energy independence thus trends, whose common denominator is sustainable construction, hence sustainable development in general. Feasibility of the creation of the concept of energy self-sufficient building doesn´t consist only in the precise solution of the assigned task from the perspective of the designer or investor, but also in finding such a solution which, even with using new trends and principles, will not go against the initial idea itself. The present instrument processed and presented in this dissertation has the ambition to move global view of the project into the perspective of a particular individual design process and in small way contribute to the creation of better projects from the perspective of sustainable development The term of energy self-sufficient buildings are not clearly defined. To work with them it was necessary to determine their basic definition that describes their diverse conceptual variations and allows precisely define the solution area. To correctly select the optimal solution in terms of sustainable development is necessary the assessment and mutual comparison since the beginning. As a basic tool for this assessment was used and partially modified SBTool, which is built on three basic pillars of sustainable development - SOCIAL - ENVIRONMENTAL - ECONOMIC. SBTool tries to determine the degree of left traces of the approach from the perspectives of these three aspects and evaluate the effectiveness of the selected solution. This tool allow to compare the different concepts for the same project among themselves, their parts but also various projects among each other. All of course with regard to the development of various aspects in the time.