Investigating epistemic justice in an adaptive planning process: towards developing a local catchment management strategy
- Authors: Ralekhetla, Mateboho Mary
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: Watershed management -- South Africa , Watershed management -- South Africa -- Moral and ethical aspects , Water resources development -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Water-supply -- South Africa -- Makhanda , Makana Water Forum (Makhanda, South Africa) , Makana Municipality (Makhanda, South Africa)
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MSc
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/95980 , vital:31220
- Description: In South Africa, Integrated Water Resource Management (IWRM) is being put into practice in a way that incorporates the belief that all stakeholders should be given a voice in decisions that affect them. Catchment Management Forums (CMFs) are the first place for stakeholder participation, supported by Catchment Management Agencies (CMAs). A key first task of a CMA is to develop of their Catchment Management Strategy (CMS). In this research, I consulted and worked with stakeholders in the Makana Water Forum (Makana Local Municipality, Eastern Cape, South Africa) throughout the process as they worked towards formulating their local CMS. Importantly, this study used insights from the community to focus on the inter- and intra-group interactions among the stakeholders who participated in the first step of Strategic Adaptive Planning. In the process, I explored epistemic contestations that occurred between different epistemic agents (participants) who may have held identity prejudices. The research aimed to allow voices, which could otherwise have been marginalised, to come out in ways that were not stigmatised through the written and personal reflective process. In doing this, the study tried to hear the voice of the oppressed speaker whose knowledge and lived experiences have been overlooked by the hearer’s prejudice. Findings show that participants who were part of the CMS development process experienced epistemic justice. These findings further established that the addition of participant reflections enhanced the level of epistemic justice promoted by the Adaptive Planning Process (APP).
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
- Authors: Ralekhetla, Mateboho Mary
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: Watershed management -- South Africa , Watershed management -- South Africa -- Moral and ethical aspects , Water resources development -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Water-supply -- South Africa -- Makhanda , Makana Water Forum (Makhanda, South Africa) , Makana Municipality (Makhanda, South Africa)
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MSc
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/95980 , vital:31220
- Description: In South Africa, Integrated Water Resource Management (IWRM) is being put into practice in a way that incorporates the belief that all stakeholders should be given a voice in decisions that affect them. Catchment Management Forums (CMFs) are the first place for stakeholder participation, supported by Catchment Management Agencies (CMAs). A key first task of a CMA is to develop of their Catchment Management Strategy (CMS). In this research, I consulted and worked with stakeholders in the Makana Water Forum (Makana Local Municipality, Eastern Cape, South Africa) throughout the process as they worked towards formulating their local CMS. Importantly, this study used insights from the community to focus on the inter- and intra-group interactions among the stakeholders who participated in the first step of Strategic Adaptive Planning. In the process, I explored epistemic contestations that occurred between different epistemic agents (participants) who may have held identity prejudices. The research aimed to allow voices, which could otherwise have been marginalised, to come out in ways that were not stigmatised through the written and personal reflective process. In doing this, the study tried to hear the voice of the oppressed speaker whose knowledge and lived experiences have been overlooked by the hearer’s prejudice. Findings show that participants who were part of the CMS development process experienced epistemic justice. These findings further established that the addition of participant reflections enhanced the level of epistemic justice promoted by the Adaptive Planning Process (APP).
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
Historical perspectives and future directions for access to land, water and related ecosystem services in the Lower Sundays River Valley, South Africa: implications for human well being
- Authors: Chadzingwa, Karabo
- Date: 2016
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MSc
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/442 , vital:19959
- Description: The legacy of South Africa’s history has facilitated unequal access to land and water resources. In the Lower Sundays River Valley (LSRV), a predominantly commercial farming area, differential access to land and water has impacted aspects of ecosystem service access and human well‐being for disenfranchised families over time. Despite the social, political and economic reform efforts in the past two decades, severe inertia towards efforts attempting to increase equitable access to land and water has been experienced. As a result, communities have mobilized and claimed their land from the government through the land restitution process. Based on a mixed‐methods approach, this research explores the ways in which access to land and water over time has influenced current levels of human well‐being among disenfranchised families. Provisioning and cultural ecosystem services were identified as key areas of loss as a result of forced evictions from land. Freedom of choice was a central and cross‐cutting theme regarding the ability to change levels of human well‐being. Although the loss of ecosystem services associated with land and water had an impact on households, the ecosystem services which are regarded as fundamental to human well‐being do not seem to have been lost. The study recommends the wide use of freedom of choice as an indicator for well‐being in the LSRV, as well as a consideration of subjective, objective and psychological measures of well‐being with regards to natural resources and ecosystem services access. Key agents in fostering desirable pathways toward equity and sustainability in the LSRV are identified with stakeholders as private businesses; inclusive governance; empowered and skilled individuals, as well as NGOs.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2016
- Authors: Chadzingwa, Karabo
- Date: 2016
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MSc
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/442 , vital:19959
- Description: The legacy of South Africa’s history has facilitated unequal access to land and water resources. In the Lower Sundays River Valley (LSRV), a predominantly commercial farming area, differential access to land and water has impacted aspects of ecosystem service access and human well‐being for disenfranchised families over time. Despite the social, political and economic reform efforts in the past two decades, severe inertia towards efforts attempting to increase equitable access to land and water has been experienced. As a result, communities have mobilized and claimed their land from the government through the land restitution process. Based on a mixed‐methods approach, this research explores the ways in which access to land and water over time has influenced current levels of human well‐being among disenfranchised families. Provisioning and cultural ecosystem services were identified as key areas of loss as a result of forced evictions from land. Freedom of choice was a central and cross‐cutting theme regarding the ability to change levels of human well‐being. Although the loss of ecosystem services associated with land and water had an impact on households, the ecosystem services which are regarded as fundamental to human well‐being do not seem to have been lost. The study recommends the wide use of freedom of choice as an indicator for well‐being in the LSRV, as well as a consideration of subjective, objective and psychological measures of well‐being with regards to natural resources and ecosystem services access. Key agents in fostering desirable pathways toward equity and sustainability in the LSRV are identified with stakeholders as private businesses; inclusive governance; empowered and skilled individuals, as well as NGOs.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2016
Water supply development decision-making in South Africa
- Authors: Preston, Ian Robert
- Date: 2016
- Subjects: Water security -- South Africa , Water resources development -- South Africa -- Cost effectiveness , Water consumption -- Economic aspects -- South Africa , Water-supply -- South Africa -- Management , Water-supply -- South Africa -- Decision making
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MCom
- Identifier: vital:1210 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1020848
- Description: Balancing water demand and supply in South Africa involves high levels of uncertainty. The Department of Water and Sanitation (DWS) is responsible for making decisions to either increase water supply or decrease water demand so as to ensure that sufficient water is available, when and where it is needed. However, no retrospective analyses of such decisions have been found. One way to assess such decisions is to evaluate the associated costs and benefits thereof. Therefore the primary aim of this study is to evaluate the costs and benefits of selected water supply options, and of the decision-making associated with those options. In order to achieve this purpose, four case studies were analysed within a mixed-methods research paradigm, which used both quantitative and qualitative methods, including unit reference value (URV) analysis, inter- and intra-case analysis and content analysis to examine the success of the decisions made. The four case studies were conducted on the Inyaka, Nandoni, Berg and De Hoop dams and their catchments. Firstly, estimated and actual project costs were compared using unit reference analysis and inter-case analyses. Secondly, the reduction of mean annual runoff (MAR) caused by invasive alien plants (IAPs) and the cost of clearing them in the dam catchments were evaluated using inter-case analyses. Information thus gathered was used together with data from DWS documentation and the results of interviews with ten key specialists, to analyse the decision-making process that led to the decision to build De Hoop Dam (the most recent case study). The rational decision-making model (RDMM) was used as a framework within which to analyse and evaluate this decision-making process. This study has also demonstrated how the RDMM can be used to assess decision-making associated with water supply development. The results of this study show that there is considerable variation of estimated costs (at the time that the decision to build the dam was taken) in relation to the actual costs of building the dams and that Ministers were not put in a position to understand the full long-term costs or the opportunity costs of the proposed dams. Furthermore, the most recent IAP data (2008) shows that the impact on water security by IAPs could not offset the water security resulting from building each of the four dams. However, if IAP management is not continued in these catchments, the projected reduction of MAR by IAPs will compromise water security within 45 years. Given the almost exponential spread and densification of IAPs, together with their long-term impact on MAR and increased costs of controlling them, it is clear that IAP management should have been factored into water supply decision-making from the outset. In the analysis of the decision to build the De Hoop Dam, the results show that while the decision-making process that culminated in the decision to build the dam did not follow the steps of the RDMM, DWS appears to have followed a somewhat similar approach. It was found that while there was a need for the provision of additional water in the Olifants catchment, this need was overstated and the resulting overestimation caused the scale and size of the dam to be larger than it could and probably should have been. Additionally, it appears that DWS‘s decision to build the De Hoop Dam themselves, rather than having it built by the private sector, may have been less than optimal. It is recommended that, in future decision-making, DWS needs to incorporate multiple alternative options into the same solution, and to ensure that decision-makers are put into a position to make informed decisions, including adequate consideration of externalities. Furthermore, DWS needs to employ decision-making models such as the RDMM to facilitate retrospective analyses to improve their institutional knowledge. Keywords: water resources management, dams, invasive alien plants, decision-making, unit reference values, rational decision-making model.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2016
- Authors: Preston, Ian Robert
- Date: 2016
- Subjects: Water security -- South Africa , Water resources development -- South Africa -- Cost effectiveness , Water consumption -- Economic aspects -- South Africa , Water-supply -- South Africa -- Management , Water-supply -- South Africa -- Decision making
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MCom
- Identifier: vital:1210 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1020848
- Description: Balancing water demand and supply in South Africa involves high levels of uncertainty. The Department of Water and Sanitation (DWS) is responsible for making decisions to either increase water supply or decrease water demand so as to ensure that sufficient water is available, when and where it is needed. However, no retrospective analyses of such decisions have been found. One way to assess such decisions is to evaluate the associated costs and benefits thereof. Therefore the primary aim of this study is to evaluate the costs and benefits of selected water supply options, and of the decision-making associated with those options. In order to achieve this purpose, four case studies were analysed within a mixed-methods research paradigm, which used both quantitative and qualitative methods, including unit reference value (URV) analysis, inter- and intra-case analysis and content analysis to examine the success of the decisions made. The four case studies were conducted on the Inyaka, Nandoni, Berg and De Hoop dams and their catchments. Firstly, estimated and actual project costs were compared using unit reference analysis and inter-case analyses. Secondly, the reduction of mean annual runoff (MAR) caused by invasive alien plants (IAPs) and the cost of clearing them in the dam catchments were evaluated using inter-case analyses. Information thus gathered was used together with data from DWS documentation and the results of interviews with ten key specialists, to analyse the decision-making process that led to the decision to build De Hoop Dam (the most recent case study). The rational decision-making model (RDMM) was used as a framework within which to analyse and evaluate this decision-making process. This study has also demonstrated how the RDMM can be used to assess decision-making associated with water supply development. The results of this study show that there is considerable variation of estimated costs (at the time that the decision to build the dam was taken) in relation to the actual costs of building the dams and that Ministers were not put in a position to understand the full long-term costs or the opportunity costs of the proposed dams. Furthermore, the most recent IAP data (2008) shows that the impact on water security by IAPs could not offset the water security resulting from building each of the four dams. However, if IAP management is not continued in these catchments, the projected reduction of MAR by IAPs will compromise water security within 45 years. Given the almost exponential spread and densification of IAPs, together with their long-term impact on MAR and increased costs of controlling them, it is clear that IAP management should have been factored into water supply decision-making from the outset. In the analysis of the decision to build the De Hoop Dam, the results show that while the decision-making process that culminated in the decision to build the dam did not follow the steps of the RDMM, DWS appears to have followed a somewhat similar approach. It was found that while there was a need for the provision of additional water in the Olifants catchment, this need was overstated and the resulting overestimation caused the scale and size of the dam to be larger than it could and probably should have been. Additionally, it appears that DWS‘s decision to build the De Hoop Dam themselves, rather than having it built by the private sector, may have been less than optimal. It is recommended that, in future decision-making, DWS needs to incorporate multiple alternative options into the same solution, and to ensure that decision-makers are put into a position to make informed decisions, including adequate consideration of externalities. Furthermore, DWS needs to employ decision-making models such as the RDMM to facilitate retrospective analyses to improve their institutional knowledge. Keywords: water resources management, dams, invasive alien plants, decision-making, unit reference values, rational decision-making model.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2016
Investigating integrated catchment management using a simple water quantity and quality model : a case study of the Crocodile River Catchment, South Africa
- Retief, Daniel Christoffel Hugo
- Authors: Retief, Daniel Christoffel Hugo
- Date: 2015
- Subjects: Watersheds -- South Africa -- Krokodilrivier (Mpumalanga) , Integrated water development -- South Africa -- Krokodilrivier (Mpumalanga) , Water quality management -- South Africa -- Krokodilrivier (Mpumalanga) , Water-supply -- South Africa -- Krokodilrivier (Mpumalanga) , Water quality -- Measurement
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MSc
- Identifier: vital:6050 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1017875
- Description: Internationally, water resources are facing increasing pressure due to over-exploitation and pollution. Integrated Water Resource Management (IWRM) has been accepted internationally as a paradigm for integrative and sustainable management of water resources. However, in practice, the implementation and success of IWRM policies has been hampered by the lack of availability of integrative decision support tools, especially within the context of limited resources and observed data. This is true for the Crocodile River Catchment (CRC), located within the Mpumalanga Province of South Africa. The catchment has been experiencing a decline in water quality as a result of the point source input of a cocktail of pollutants, which are discharged from industrial and municipal wastewater treatment plants, as well as diffuse source runoff and return flows from the extensive areas of irrigated agriculture and mining sites. The decline in water quality has profound implications for a range of stakeholders across the catchment including increased treatment costs and reduced crop yields. The combination of deteriorating water quality and the lack of understanding of the relationships between water quantity and quality for determining compliance/non-compliance in the CRC have resulted in collaboration between stakeholders, willing to work in a participatory and transparent manner to create an Integrated Water Quality Management Plan (IWQMP). This project aimed to model water quality, (combined water quality and quantity), to facilitate the IWQMP aiding in the understanding of the relationship between water quantity and quality in the CRC. A relatively simple water quality model (WQSAM) was used that receives inputs from established water quantity systems models, and was designed to be a water quality decision support tool for South African catchments. The model was applied to the CRC, achieving acceptable simulations of total dissolved solids (used as a surrogate for salinity) and nutrients (including orthophosphates, nitrates +nitrites and ammonium) for historical conditions. Validation results revealed that there is little consistency within the catchment, attributed to the non-stationary nature of water quality at many of the sites in the CRC. The analyses of the results using a number of representations including, seasonal load distributions, load duration curves and load flow plots, confirmed that the WQSAM model was able to capture the variability of relationships between water quantity and quality, provided that simulated hydrology was sufficiently accurate. The outputs produced by WQSAM was seen as useful for the CRC, with the Inkomati-Usuthu Catchment Management Agency (IUCMA) planning to operationalise the model in 2015. The ability of WQSAM to simulate water quality in data scarce catchments, with constituents that are appropriate for the needs of water resource management within South Africa, is highly beneficial.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2015
- Authors: Retief, Daniel Christoffel Hugo
- Date: 2015
- Subjects: Watersheds -- South Africa -- Krokodilrivier (Mpumalanga) , Integrated water development -- South Africa -- Krokodilrivier (Mpumalanga) , Water quality management -- South Africa -- Krokodilrivier (Mpumalanga) , Water-supply -- South Africa -- Krokodilrivier (Mpumalanga) , Water quality -- Measurement
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MSc
- Identifier: vital:6050 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1017875
- Description: Internationally, water resources are facing increasing pressure due to over-exploitation and pollution. Integrated Water Resource Management (IWRM) has been accepted internationally as a paradigm for integrative and sustainable management of water resources. However, in practice, the implementation and success of IWRM policies has been hampered by the lack of availability of integrative decision support tools, especially within the context of limited resources and observed data. This is true for the Crocodile River Catchment (CRC), located within the Mpumalanga Province of South Africa. The catchment has been experiencing a decline in water quality as a result of the point source input of a cocktail of pollutants, which are discharged from industrial and municipal wastewater treatment plants, as well as diffuse source runoff and return flows from the extensive areas of irrigated agriculture and mining sites. The decline in water quality has profound implications for a range of stakeholders across the catchment including increased treatment costs and reduced crop yields. The combination of deteriorating water quality and the lack of understanding of the relationships between water quantity and quality for determining compliance/non-compliance in the CRC have resulted in collaboration between stakeholders, willing to work in a participatory and transparent manner to create an Integrated Water Quality Management Plan (IWQMP). This project aimed to model water quality, (combined water quality and quantity), to facilitate the IWQMP aiding in the understanding of the relationship between water quantity and quality in the CRC. A relatively simple water quality model (WQSAM) was used that receives inputs from established water quantity systems models, and was designed to be a water quality decision support tool for South African catchments. The model was applied to the CRC, achieving acceptable simulations of total dissolved solids (used as a surrogate for salinity) and nutrients (including orthophosphates, nitrates +nitrites and ammonium) for historical conditions. Validation results revealed that there is little consistency within the catchment, attributed to the non-stationary nature of water quality at many of the sites in the CRC. The analyses of the results using a number of representations including, seasonal load distributions, load duration curves and load flow plots, confirmed that the WQSAM model was able to capture the variability of relationships between water quantity and quality, provided that simulated hydrology was sufficiently accurate. The outputs produced by WQSAM was seen as useful for the CRC, with the Inkomati-Usuthu Catchment Management Agency (IUCMA) planning to operationalise the model in 2015. The ability of WQSAM to simulate water quality in data scarce catchments, with constituents that are appropriate for the needs of water resource management within South Africa, is highly beneficial.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2015
The role of salinity as an abiotic driver of ecological condition in a rural agricultural catchment
- Authors: Lerotholi, Sekhonyana
- Date: 2006
- Subjects: Soils, Salts in -- South Africa -- Kat River , Water salinization -- South Africa -- Kat River , Water quality -- South Africa -- Kat River , Salinization -- Control -- South Africa -- Kat River , Agricultural pollution -- South Africa -- Kat River , Aquatic ecology -- South Africa -- Kat River , Salinity -- South Africa -- Kat River
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MSc
- Identifier: vital:4852 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1005528 , Soils, Salts in -- South Africa -- Kat River , Water salinization -- South Africa -- Kat River , Water quality -- South Africa -- Kat River , Salinization -- Control -- South Africa -- Kat River , Agricultural pollution -- South Africa -- Kat River , Aquatic ecology -- South Africa -- Kat River , Salinity -- South Africa -- Kat River
- Description: The Kat River is an agricultural catchment that drains salt rich geology. Potential salinity impacts on ecological condition of the river were investigated. Monthly salt concentrations and flow discharges were monitored at ten sites along the Kat River below the Kat Dam. Monthly salt loads were computed to relate salinity to land use and ionic data used to assess the toxicity of major salts using the TIMS model. Concentration duration curves for sodium chloride were derived from flow concentration relationships, representing sodium chloride concentrations to which the aquatic ecosystem had been exposed. The ecological condition was assessed at nineteen sites using SASS5 biotic index over four seasons. Finally, the modelled instream salt concentrations and bioasessments were evaluated in terms of the modelled level of species protection afforded at different salt concentrations. Species Sensitivity Distributions (SSDs) were used for this exercise. There was a general downstream increase in salinity with the minimum concentrations recorded at the Fairbain tributary (84 mg/L) and maximum levels at the sewage outfall in Fort Beaufort (1222 mg/L). There was evidence that citrus irrigation upstream of Fort Beaufort increased salinisation. Sodium chloride, and to a lesser extent magnesium sulphate, were the dominant salts in the Kat River catchment, with the latter being more toxic. However these had little or no impact on the aquatic ecosystem. Flow-derived sodium chloride concentrations showed that both the Balfour and Blinkwater tributaries were in a fair/ poor condition. However with regard to ecological condition, it was demonstrated that the river is generally in a good state except for the Blinkwater River and the lower catchment. Degraded habitat condition at the Blinkwater was responsible for poor ecological condition. Integrating SSD derived classes, sodium chloride classes and ecological condition indicated that sodium chloride is a driver of ecological condition at the sewage treatment works and the subsequent site (only two of nineteen biomonitoring sites).
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2006
- Authors: Lerotholi, Sekhonyana
- Date: 2006
- Subjects: Soils, Salts in -- South Africa -- Kat River , Water salinization -- South Africa -- Kat River , Water quality -- South Africa -- Kat River , Salinization -- Control -- South Africa -- Kat River , Agricultural pollution -- South Africa -- Kat River , Aquatic ecology -- South Africa -- Kat River , Salinity -- South Africa -- Kat River
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MSc
- Identifier: vital:4852 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1005528 , Soils, Salts in -- South Africa -- Kat River , Water salinization -- South Africa -- Kat River , Water quality -- South Africa -- Kat River , Salinization -- Control -- South Africa -- Kat River , Agricultural pollution -- South Africa -- Kat River , Aquatic ecology -- South Africa -- Kat River , Salinity -- South Africa -- Kat River
- Description: The Kat River is an agricultural catchment that drains salt rich geology. Potential salinity impacts on ecological condition of the river were investigated. Monthly salt concentrations and flow discharges were monitored at ten sites along the Kat River below the Kat Dam. Monthly salt loads were computed to relate salinity to land use and ionic data used to assess the toxicity of major salts using the TIMS model. Concentration duration curves for sodium chloride were derived from flow concentration relationships, representing sodium chloride concentrations to which the aquatic ecosystem had been exposed. The ecological condition was assessed at nineteen sites using SASS5 biotic index over four seasons. Finally, the modelled instream salt concentrations and bioasessments were evaluated in terms of the modelled level of species protection afforded at different salt concentrations. Species Sensitivity Distributions (SSDs) were used for this exercise. There was a general downstream increase in salinity with the minimum concentrations recorded at the Fairbain tributary (84 mg/L) and maximum levels at the sewage outfall in Fort Beaufort (1222 mg/L). There was evidence that citrus irrigation upstream of Fort Beaufort increased salinisation. Sodium chloride, and to a lesser extent magnesium sulphate, were the dominant salts in the Kat River catchment, with the latter being more toxic. However these had little or no impact on the aquatic ecosystem. Flow-derived sodium chloride concentrations showed that both the Balfour and Blinkwater tributaries were in a fair/ poor condition. However with regard to ecological condition, it was demonstrated that the river is generally in a good state except for the Blinkwater River and the lower catchment. Degraded habitat condition at the Blinkwater was responsible for poor ecological condition. Integrating SSD derived classes, sodium chloride classes and ecological condition indicated that sodium chloride is a driver of ecological condition at the sewage treatment works and the subsequent site (only two of nineteen biomonitoring sites).
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2006
- «
- ‹
- 1
- ›
- »