A Water Theme

Water is a central theme in SAEON, given it's life giving properties. St Lucia is a place where we can evaluate the effects of people on water systems. In 1971 Tinley wrote, “The St Lucia Lake System is condemned to death by thirst – lack of freshwater – and it can be reprieved only by securing one entire river catchment to flush out the lake periodically, and by re-establishing the peripheral, onetime perennial, freshwater resources from the high water table sands.” The lake receives water from the Mfolozi, Nyalazi, Mpahti, Hluhluwe and Mkuzi catchments as well as the Maputaland coastal aquifer. While the lake catchments provide the largest volume of river runoff to the lake, the ecological resilience of the lake is critically dependent on the ground water contribution through perennial seepage flows that sustain micro-habitats along the lake shoreline (Taylor, et. al., 2006. Published in Volume 31 of the African Journal of Aquatic Science, pp31-41). Surrounding land uses, the management of the Mfolozi mouth and the estuary mouth are all factors impacting on the quality and quality of water entering the system. Groundwater, physio-chemical and water quality monitoring were prioritized for long-term ecological research. Monitoring these parameters will help refine the model on the system functioning. These parameters have been reiterated as a priority by Whitfield (2014) and more recently by the iSimangaliso Authority's scientific studies which have refined our understanding of the Lake. SAEON is interested in building on long term datasets and providing additional critical parameter data required to understanding the variability within this system to explore the impact that human activity is having on the area relative to climate impacts and possible sea level rise. We are exploring observations linked to both the quality and quantity of water in the system in collaboration with Department of Water Affairs and iSimangaliso Authority.