The hydrodynamics of the Bot River Estuary revisited

Simple item page
dc.contributor.authorVan Niekerk L.
dc.contributor.authorVan Der Merwe J.H.
dc.contributor.authorHuizinga P.
dc.date.accessioned2011-05-15T15:58:11Z
dc.date.available2011-05-15T15:58:11Z
dc.date.issued2005
dc.description.abstractFor the past 20 years management of the Bot/Kleinmond estuarine system in the south-western Cape has been based on the premise that, barring intervention, the estuary was naturally evolving into a freshwater coastal lake. This paper presents evidence, based on a 20-year series of water-level data, updated runoff estimates from the catchment and dimensional data, that, in the absence of anthropogenic influences, the system is not progressing naturally, but artificially, towards becoming a freshwater system. It is concluded that the increasingly closed state of the Bot Estuary in recent years is most likely due to reduction in runoff from its tributaries and premature artificial breaching of the Kleinmond arm of the system. These findings, coupled with the high conservation importance of the Bot River Estuary, suggest that the current management plan needs urgent revaluation and that the two estuaries cannot be managed separately.
dc.description.versionArticle
dc.identifier.citationWater SA
dc.identifier.citation31
dc.identifier.citation1
dc.identifier.issn3784738
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/10019.1/10820
dc.subjectCatchments
dc.subjectHydrodynamics
dc.subjectLakes
dc.subjectRivers
dc.subjectRunoff
dc.subjectArtificial breaching
dc.subjectEstuarine systems
dc.subjectTributaries
dc.subjectWater-level data
dc.subjectEstuaries
dc.subjectestuary
dc.subjecthydrodynamics
dc.subjectrunoff
dc.subjectwater level
dc.subjectwater management
dc.titleThe hydrodynamics of the Bot River Estuary revisited
dc.typeArticle
Files
Collections
Stellenbosch University - Scopus Publications