Version 1
: Received: 12 August 2023 / Approved: 14 August 2023 / Online: 14 August 2023 (11:14:03 CEST)
How to cite:
Mokgele, R.; Okedi, A.J. Suitability of Coastal Reservoirs for Stormwater Harvesting in South Africa. Preprints2023, 2023081039. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202308.1039.v1
Mokgele, R.; Okedi, A.J. Suitability of Coastal Reservoirs for Stormwater Harvesting in South Africa. Preprints 2023, 2023081039. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202308.1039.v1
Mokgele, R.; Okedi, A.J. Suitability of Coastal Reservoirs for Stormwater Harvesting in South Africa. Preprints2023, 2023081039. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202308.1039.v1
APA Style
Mokgele, R., & Okedi, A.J. (2023). Suitability of Coastal Reservoirs for Stormwater Harvesting in South Africa. Preprints. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202308.1039.v1
Chicago/Turabian Style
Mokgele, R. and And John Okedi. 2023 "Suitability of Coastal Reservoirs for Stormwater Harvesting in South Africa" Preprints. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202308.1039.v1
Abstract
South Africa is a water stressed country experiencing mass urbanisation especially towards coastal cities. The country is already enduring the impacts of global warming and climate change with risk of water scarcity in many areas. The risk was evident with Cape Town near encounter with ‘Day Zero’ i.e., the day when water supplies would have been switched off and residents required to queue for daily water rations. The drought exposed the inadequa-cies of the existing water supply system. Paradoxically, in the same drought period, vast amounts of unutilized stormwater that could have augmented water supply run unabated into the ocean through rivers around the city. The study determined that the problem was not necessarily water shortage but lack of adequate water storage. This study investigated the suitability of coastal reservoirs for stormwater harvesting on the over 3000 km South African coastline. The objective was to identify suitable locations for coastal reservoirs. The study un-dertook a systematic process of selecting several candidate locations and eliminating unsuita-ble sites based on international best practice i.e., coastal topography, climate, hydrology, fluvi-al environment, catchment size and river water quality. Nine candidate sites were identified and ranked based on suitability and associated benefits. The identified locations in order of ranking include Knysna River, Berg River, Buffalo River, Kowie River, Thukela River, Orange River, Port of Richards Bay, Port of Durban, and Lourens River. The Knysna site, with a mean annual precipitation of 600 - 800 mm/annum and mean annual runoff of 100 - 500 Mm3/annum, was determined to be the most optimal location.
Keywords
Coastal reservoirs; Stormwater harvesting; South Africa.
Subject
Environmental and Earth Sciences, Water Science and Technology
Copyright:
This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
