IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v18y2021i2p561-d478470.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Assessing the Effects of Land Use on Surface Water Quality in the Lower uMfolozi Floodplain System, South Africa

Author

Listed:
  • Mandla Dlamini

    (School of Geography, Archaeology and Environmental Studies, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg 2000, South Africa
    Institute for Water Studies, Department of Earth Science, University of the Western Cape, Cape Town 7535, South Africa)

  • George Chirima

    (Geoinformation Science Division, Agricultural Research Council-Institute for Soil, Climate and Water, Pretoria 0083, South Africa
    Centre for Geoinformation Science, Department of Geography, Geoinformatics and Meteorology, University of Pretoria, Pretoria 0001, South Africa)

  • Nebo Jovanovic

    (Institute for Water Studies, Department of Earth Science, University of the Western Cape, Cape Town 7535, South Africa)

  • Elhadi Adam

    (School of Geography, Archaeology and Environmental Studies, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg 2000, South Africa)

Abstract

This study investigated the impacts of cultivation on water and soil quality in the lower uMfolozi floodplain system in KwaZulu-Natal province, South Africa. We did this by assessing seasonal variations in purposefully selected water and soil properties in these two land-use systems. The observed values were statistically analysed by performing Student’s paired t -tests to determine seasonal trends in these variables. Results revealed significant seasonal differences in chloride and sodium concentrations and electrical conductivity (EC) and the sodium adsorption ratio (SAR) with cultivated sites exhibiting higher values. Most of the analyzed chemical parameters were within acceptable limits specified by the South African agricultural-water-quality (SAWQ) water quality guidelines for irrigation except for sodium adsorption ratio (SAR), chloride, sodium and EC. EC, pH and nitrate content which were higher than the specified SAWQ limits in cultivated sites. Quantities of glyphosate, ametryn and imidacloprid could not be measured because they were below detectable limits. The study concludes that most water quality parameters met SAWQ’s standards. These results argue for concerted efforts to systematically monitor water and soil quality characteristics in this environment to enhance sustainability by providing timely information for management purposes.

Suggested Citation

  • Mandla Dlamini & George Chirima & Nebo Jovanovic & Elhadi Adam, 2021. "Assessing the Effects of Land Use on Surface Water Quality in the Lower uMfolozi Floodplain System, South Africa," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(2), pages 1-18, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:18:y:2021:i:2:p:561-:d:478470
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/2/561/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/2/561/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Laxmi D. Bhatta & Sunita Chaudhary & Anju Pandit & Himlal Baral & Partha J. Das & Nigel E. Stork, 2016. "Ecosystem Service Changes and Livelihood Impacts in the Maguri-Motapung Wetlands of Assam, India," Land, MDPI, vol. 5(2), pages 1-14, June.
    2. Brainwood, M. A. & Burgin, S. & Maheshwari, B., 2004. "Temporal variations in water quality of farm dams: impacts of land use and water sources," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 70(2), pages 151-175, November.
    3. Nagabhatla, N. & van Brakel, M., 2010. "Landscape level characterization of seasonal floodplains under community based aquaculture: illustrating a case of the Ganges and the Mekong Delta," Monographs, The WorldFish Center, number 39042, April.
    4. Celia De La Mora-Orozco & Irma Julieta González-Acuña & Ruben Alfonso Saucedo-Terán & Hugo Ernesto Flores-López & Hector Osbaldo Rubio-Arias & Jesús Manuel Ochoa-Rivero, 2018. "Removing Organic Matter and Nutrients from Pig Farm Wastewater with a Constructed Wetland System," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 15(5), pages 1-16, May.
    5. Edward B. Barbier, 2013. "Valuing Ecosystem Services for Coastal Wetland Protection and Restoration: Progress and Challenges," Resources, MDPI, vol. 2(3), pages 1-18, August.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Fridrich, Beata & Krčmar, Dejan & Dalmacija, Božo & Molnar, Jelena & Pešić, Vesna & Kragulj, Marijana & Varga, Nataša, 2014. "Impact of wastewater from pig farm lagoons on the quality of local groundwater," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 135(C), pages 40-53.
    2. Li Li & Qidi Yu & Ling Gao & Bin Yu & Zhipeng Lu, 2021. "The Effect of Urban Land-Use Change on Runoff Water Quality: A Case Study in Hangzhou City," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(20), pages 1-12, October.
    3. Juan G. Loaiza & Jesús Gabriel Rangel-Peraza & Antonio Jesús Sanhouse-García & Sergio Alberto Monjardín-Armenta & Zuriel Dathan Mora-Félix & Yaneth A. Bustos-Terrones, 2021. "Assessment of Water Quality in A Tropical Reservoir in Mexico: Seasonal, Spatial and Multivariable Analysis," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(14), pages 1-20, July.
    4. Paweł Tomczyk & Mirosław Wiatkowski, 2021. "The Effects of Hydropower Plants on the Physicochemical Parameters of the Bystrzyca River in Poland," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(8), pages 1-29, April.
    5. Maestre-Valero, J.F. & Martínez-Alvarez, V., 2010. "Effects of drip irrigation systems on the recovery of dissolved oxygen from hypoxic water," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 97(11), pages 1806-1812, November.
    6. Minmin Zhao & Zhibin He, 2018. "Evaluation of the Effects of Land Cover Change on Ecosystem Service Values in the Upper Reaches of the Heihe River Basin, Northwestern China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(12), pages 1-19, December.
    7. Maestre-Valero, J.F. & Martínez-Alvarez, V. & Gallego-Elvira, B. & Pittaway, P., 2011. "Effects of a suspended shade cloth cover on water quality of an agricultural reservoir for irrigation," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 100(1), pages 70-75.
    8. Leushantha Mudaly & Michael van der Laan, 2020. "Interactions between Irrigated Agriculture and Surface Water Quality with a Focus on Phosphate and Nitrate in the Middle Olifants Catchment, South Africa," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(11), pages 1-25, May.
    9. Maestre-Valero, J.F. & Martínez-Alvarez, V. & Nicolas, E., 2013. "Physical, chemical and microbiological effects of suspended shade cloth covers on stored water for irrigation," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 118(C), pages 70-78.
    10. Hejie Wei & Jiaxin Zheng & Dong Xue & Xiaobin Dong & Mengxue Liu & Yali Zhang, 2022. "Identifying the Relationship between Livelihoods and Land Ecosystem Services Using a Coupled Model: A Case Study in the “One River and Two Tributaries” Region of Tibet," Land, MDPI, vol. 11(9), pages 1-23, August.
    11. Celia De La Mora-Orozco & Hugo Flores-Lopez & Hector Rubio-Arias & Alvaro Chavez-Duran & Jesus Ochoa-Rivero, 2017. "Developing a Water Quality Index (WQI) for an Irrigation Dam," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 14(5), pages 1-10, April.
    12. Jun-Yi Zheng & Ying-Ying Hao & Yuan-Chen Wang & Si-Qi Zhou & Wan-Ben Wu & Qi Yuan & Yu Gao & Hai-Qiang Guo & Xing-Xing Cai & Bin Zhao, 2022. "Coastal Wetland Vegetation Classification Using Pixel-Based, Object-Based and Deep Learning Methods Based on RGB-UAV," Land, MDPI, vol. 11(11), pages 1-22, November.
    13. Alexander I. Belyaev & Anna M. Pugacheva & Evgenia A. Korneeva, 2022. "Assessment of Ecosystem Services of Wetlands of the Volga–Akhtuba Floodplain," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(18), pages 1-14, September.
    14. Sujith S. Ratnayake & Azeem Khan & Michael Reid & Punchi B. Dharmasena & Danny Hunter & Lalit Kumar & Keminda Herath & Benjamin Kogo & Harsha K. Kadupitiya & Thilantha Dammalage & Champika S. Kariyawa, 2022. "Land Use-Based Participatory Assessment of Ecosystem Services for Ecological Restoration in Village Tank Cascade Systems of Sri Lanka," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(16), pages 1-21, August.
    15. Das, Manob & Das, Arijit & Pandey, Rajiv, 2022. "Importance-performance analysis of ecosystem services in tribal communities of the Barind region, Eastern India," Ecosystem Services, Elsevier, vol. 55(C).
    16. Miriam Fernandez-Nunez & Helene Burningham & Pilar Díaz-Cuevas & José Ojeda-Zújar, 2019. "Evaluating the Response of Mediterranean-Atlantic Saltmarshes to Sea-Level Rise," Resources, MDPI, vol. 8(1), pages 1-20, March.
    17. Hua Wang & Walter Keithly & Rex Caffey, 2019. "Factors Influencing Landowners’ Decisions for Income-Generating Activities on Private Coastal Wetland in Louisiana," Resources, MDPI, vol. 8(2), pages 1-20, June.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:18:y:2021:i:2:p:561-:d:478470. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.