>Magister Scientiae - MSc / Somerset West and Strand in the Western Cape, South Africa, were developed on the Lourens
River floodplain. This hardened the catchment and reduced the capacity of the river to transport
and store floodwaters. The result was recurrent flooding of residential and industrial areas and
a fear that this could lead to loss of human life. In response to these concerns, the City of Cape
Town implemented flood alleviation measures with a ‘soft’ engineering approach that
incorporated geomorphological and ecological principles into their design. This was one of the
first engineer/ecologist collaborations in South Africa, which attempted to make better
decisions for the river ecosystem within the constraints imposed on it by urban development;
and in so doing to create a self-sustaining river that requires little ongoing manipulation. The
aim of this dissertation was to assess the extent to which ecological considerations were
incorporated into the flood alleviation works on the Lourens River and whether this improved
physical habitat and the diversity of riverine biota. Physical habitat was mapped from 1:50 000
topographic maps and aerial imagery in a GIS, and cross-sectional profiles, diversity of
hydraulic biotopes and subtsrate composition were surveyed in the field.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:uwc/oai:etd.uwc.ac.za:11394/8608 |
| Date | January 2021 |
| Creators | Campher, Dirk Jacobus Martins |
| Contributors | Mazvimavi, Dominic |
| Publisher | University of Western Cape |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Rights | University of Western Cape |
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