文档介绍：WETLAND CONSERVATION AND REHABILITATION PONENTS OF INTEGRATED CATCHMENT MANAGEMENT IN THE MGENI CATCHMENT, KWAZULU-NATAL, SOUTH AFRICA
By
GPW JEWITT1 and DC KOTZE2
1School of Bioresources Engineering and Environmental Hydrology,
2Department of Range and Forage Resources,University of Natal Pbag X01, Scottsville, 3209
South Africa
INTRODUCTION
A HIERARCHICAL AND SYSTEMS APPROACH TO INTEGRATED CATCHMENT MANAGEMENT
THE MGENI CATCHMENT, KWAZULU-NATAL, SOUTH AFRICA
CONCLUSION
INTRODUCTION
The Mgeni Catchment, 4387km2 in area, is one of South Africas’ most developed catchments and produces approximately 20% of South Africa’s gross national product. It is home to some million people, approximately 45% of the population of the province of KwaZulu-Natal (Ninham Shand, 1996). The need to supply water to a burgeoning population and increasing urbanisation and industrialisation in the catchment has resulted in the construction of five large dams in the catchment with bined capacity of million m3. bined volume represents 135% of the mean annual runoff of the catchment (Kienzle et al., 1997).
The water resources in the Mgeni system are currently supplemented by Inter Basin Transfers from the Mooi River, with further transfers planned for the Mkhomazi River. It has been recognised that the water demand in the catchment is fast approaching the limits of water availability, and water quality is deteriorating. The need to manage the water resources in the Mgeni Catchment holistically has led to the formation of an Mgeni Catchment Management Plan (MCMP), the objective of which is to ensure that water resources in the catchment are managed in a sustainable way.
This perspective has, in part, been driven by the movement towards a new National Water Act in South Africa. This Act, which became operational on October 1st 1998, will have a profound effect on the way in which water resources are managed in the country. In particular, the new National Water Act and