The application of a simple decision support system to address water quality contestations in the Vaal Barrage catchment, South Africa

Chili, Asanda Sandra

Title: The application of a simple decision support system to address water quality contestations in the Vaal Barrage catchment, South Africa
Creator: Chili, Asanda Sandra
Subject: Vaal Barrage (South Africa : Reservoir)
Subject: Decision support systems South Africa Vaal Barrage (Reservoir)
Subject: Water Pollution Law and legislation South Africa
Subject: Water quality South Africa Vaal Barrage (Reservoir)
Subject: Water use Law and legislation South Africa Vaal Barrage (Reservoir)
Subject: Urban watersheds South Africa Vaal Barrage (Reservoir)
Subject: Watershed management South Africa Vaal Barrage (Reservoir)
Subject: ‎Water use licences (WUL)
Date Issued: 2022-04
Date: 2022-04
Type: Master's thesis
Type: text
Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/232204
Identifier: vital:49971
Description: Deteriorating environmental water quality is one of the complex challenges in South Africa that threaten freshwater ecosystem health and functionality. An emerging concern is the contestation of water quality regulatory instruments such as standards in water use licences (WUL), and the resource quality objectives. In the Vaal Barrage catchment where this study was undertaken these contestations were evident, suggesting the need for both technical and social solutions to water quality changes in socio-ecological systems. The Vaal Barrage catchment within the lower section of the Upper Vaal is a highly developed, urbanised, and complex catchment supporting and contributing to the social-economic development of Gauteng Province and the entire country, as the Upper Vaal contribute 20% to the Gross Domestic Product of South Africa. This study explores the motivations for stakeholders’ contestations of water quality regulatory instruments in order to contribute to ways in which water resource users and regulators can collaboratively address water quality challenges in the Vaal Barrage catchment. The study also explores water quality scenarios and their ecological and management implications. Document analysis, participant observations and a semi-structured questionnaire were deployed to explore stakeholders’ motivations, values, and perceptions of the water quality regulatory instruments. The results were triangulated to gain better insights into research participants responses. To explore water quality management scenarios, the study applied a water quality systems assessment model Decision Support System (DSS). The DSS was recently developed as part of a bigger project within the Vaal Barrage catchment. Regarding stakeholders’ motivation for contesting water quality regulatory instruments in the catchment, the results revealed a perceived lack of scientific credibility and defensibility in the processes used for deriving standards in WUL, a lack of transparent linkage between the WUL and resource quality objectives, and the increased need for stakeholder engagement in the resource quality objective formulation process. Furthermore, the study revealed punitive measures, education and awareness, self-regulation as mechanisms to encourage compliance. The applied DSS results showed that high nutrient loads, sulphate and total dissolved solids sourced from upstream catchments contribute to water quality deterioration in the Vaal Barrage catchment. The results also showed that the Vaal Barrage catchment could not host additional licence emitters because of TDS, phosphate and nitrate levels, which pose a serious risk to the ecology of the Vaal Barrage catchment, indicating that system had exceeded its assimilative capacity for critical water quality variables. Lastly, the results evidenced the need for collaborative action by the waste emitters within the Vaal Barrage catchment, particularly collaboration between upstream and downstream waste emitters. The study has far-reaching implications for water quality management in South Africa. These include i) the need for transparent and open processes and methods for deriving standards in water use licence, ii) the need for a water quality DSS that recognises catchment hydrological complexity in deriving standards in WUL, and for linking WUL and Resource Quality Objectives (RQOs), iii) collaboration between resources users, and between the resources users and the regulators to bring pollution to acceptable levels and iv) both social and technical solutions are necessary for managing water quality challenge, particularly in a highly developed catchment such as the Vaal Barrage system.
Description: Thesis (MSc) -- Faculty of Science, Institute for Water Research, 2022
Format: computer
Format: online resource
Format: application/pdf
Format: 1 online resource (150 pages)
Format: pdf
Publisher: Rhodes University
Publisher: Faculty of Science, Institute for Water Research
Language: English
Rights: Chili, Asanda Sandra
Rights: Use of this resource is governed by the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons "Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike" License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/)

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