Climate change is major threat to our world particularly poor countries. Climate
change is driven by changes in the atmospheric concentrations of Greenhouse Gases
and aerosols. These gases affect the absorption, scattering and emission of radiation
within the atmosphere and the earthâs surface thus resulting in changes in the
energy balance (IPCC, 2007). Much strain will be placed on water resources
especially in areas where water infrastructure does not exist, or where water
delivery is difficult due to aridity (Pietersen, 2005). This dissertation examines the
causes of climate change and explores the resulting effects on the environment,
social and economic sectors.
This study focuses its attention on South Africa as a whole. South Africa is viewed as
a waterâstressed country with an average annual rainfall of 500 mm and any climatic
change could have adverse impacts on water resources of the country. The potential
impacts of climate change on water resources and hydrology for Africa and Southern
Africa have received considerable attention from hydrologists during the last decade.
Very little research has been conducted on the future impact of climate change on
groundwater resources in South Africa. Climate change can affect groundwater
levels, recharge and groundwater contribution to baseflow.
The first step in the approach involves the creation of a climate change groundwater
vulnerability profile. In analogy with the DRASTIC methodology the DART
methodology was developed. The parameters considered in the DART methodology
are as follows:
D â Depth to water level change
A â Aquifer type (storativity)
R â Recharge
T â Transmissivity
The DART methodology focus more on typical parameters used in sustainability
studies, but also indirectly accommodate the issue of quality due to the fact that the water quality is likely to deteriorate with a drop in water level over time as the salt
load will concentrate.
Two scenarios are considered; current and future. The current scenario is
representative of the current precipitation patterns and the future scenario is
representative of the predicted scenario based on the selected GCM.
Vulnerability indices are developed to assess the impacts of global change at spatial
scale to enhance the understanding of impacts on people, and develop the
appropriate policies for adaptation. For the purpose of this study, a vulnerability
index was developed to assess the impacts of climate change on groundwater
resources of South Africa on rural communities.
At first glance, the results indicate there is not a significant difference between the
current and future average indices, which indicates that climate change impacts on
groundwater have very little impact on communities and therefore few adaptation
requirements are necessary for community impacts due to groundwater impacts
based on climate change.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:ufs/oai:etd.uovs.ac.za:etd-10172011-120517 |
| Date | 17 October 2011 |
| Creators | Rantlhomela, Phaello Brigitte |
| Contributors | Dr I Dennis |
| Publisher | University of the Free State |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | en-uk |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | http://etd.uovs.ac.za//theses/available/etd-10172011-120517/restricted/ |
| Rights | unrestricted, I hereby certify that, if appropriate, I have obtained and attached hereto a written permission statement from the owner(s) of each third party copyrighted matter to be included in my thesis, dissertation, or project report, allowing distribution as specified below. I certify that the version I submitted is the same as that approved by my advisory committee. I hereby grant to University Free State or its agents the non-exclusive license to archive and make accessible, under the conditions specified below, my thesis, dissertation, or project report in whole or in part in all forms of media, now or hereafter known. I retain all other ownership rights to the copyright of the thesis, dissertation or project report. I also retain the right to use in future works (such as articles or books) all or part of this thesis, dissertation, or project report. |
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