Water Research Commission Research Articles

A proposal for an academy to deliver capacity building in agricultural water management with particular reference to irrigation

AbstractThe paper proposes a capacity‐building programme (CBP) on water for food/agricultural water management in sub‐Saharan Africa contained within an academy on the water–energy–food (WEF) nexus. The paper is informed by a study funded by the International Water Management Institute and supported by the Water Research Commission of South Africa. It also reports on a stakeholder consultation workshop on 26 April 2023 in Pretoria, South Africa. It identifies key components of capacity‐building design and delivery, including six teaching and learning pathways. These are managed ad hoc self‐directed learning; continuing professional development; short‐course training; vocational college training; part‐time online postgraduate training; and full‐time in‐person postgraduate training. The accompanying budget analysis is speculative based on the size of the student cohorts per year for each of the six CBP pathways. The total budget of the academy is estimated at approximately US$60 million for a 10‐year programme training 2,800 individuals. This works out at an average per‐student cost of US$21,600. One question, debated at the stakeholder workshop but unresolved, was the emphasis on irrigation versus the agricultural water management continuum including rainfed agriculture.

A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Factors Influencing Water Use Behaviour and the Efficiency of Agricultural Production in South Africa

Water use behaviour and efficiency are essential topics regarding water scarcity. Water is a life-sustaining resource used for various activities within the three primary sectors: agricultural, industrial, and domestic. Increasing competition among these sectors could affect the availability and sustainability of water use. The higher demand for agricultural-related commodities emphasizes the efficient and productive use of water. Still, to achieve this, the behaviour of consumers regarding water use needs to be changed. This systematic review paper aims to highlight the factors affecting water use behaviour and efficiency for agricultural production in South Africa. It further aims to determine how agricultural producers change their behaviour to improve their water use efficiency. The Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) criteria were used as a reporting framework and guidelines to identify the articles included in the review. The review only included articles focussing on agricultural water use behaviour and efficiency and articles written in English and excluded articles from web pages, blogs, magazines, etc. The databases used for the review were Google Scholar and Web of Science. The articles were reviewed by the five authors to avoid the risk of bias, along with the inclusion and exclusion criteria. The final review included 30 peer-reviewed articles. A word frequency table was developed using the NVivo 14 software to conduct a thematic analysis for the review. The main factors which played a role in the water use behaviour and efficiency of farmers were (i) climate and adaptation strategies, (ii) policy and water pricing, and (iii) agricultural production and management. Each category elaborated on how water use could be improved and the different measures adopted to incorporate sustainable farm water use. This could be a guideline for farmers, stakeholders, and policymakers to improve and enhance water use behaviour and efficiency in Sub-Saharan Africa, particularly South Africa. This could ultimately assist in efficiently using the water while enhancing sustainability within the agricultural sector and attaining Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) six, which is to increase water use efficiency. The limitation of this study was that it was only narrowed down to the geographical context of South Africa. This review was funded by the Water Research Commission (WRC) of South Africa (Project Number: C20222023-00798). This review was not registered.

Social acceptability and household expectations of green sanitation systems

Large-scale, centralised sanitation systems provide safe, reliable, affordable and dignified sanitation to those located within the waterborne sewerage network. However, publicly managed hydro-modernist sanitation systems are not available to all, with many households and communities across the world having to access basic off-grid, state-provided sanitation services, such as pit latrines or Urine Diversion Dehydration Toilets, or having to provide their own solutions to sanitation waste. Urban green sanitation, which is non-sewered and off-grid, represents a new form of hydro-social and socio-technical relations. It aims to address sanitation backlogs and provide an alternative to centralised sanitation systems using ecological circularity. This paper categorises the social acceptability of urban green sanitation technologies into four main dimensions: social concerns, environmental concerns, the right to sanitation, and making a contribution to change. It draws on social assessments undertaken between 2016 and 2023, for the testing of sanitation technologies in Durban, South Africa, as part of the Engineering Field Testing Platform funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation’s Reinvent the Toilet Challenge and the Water Research Commission, South Africa, to reflect on the social dimensions of urban green sanitation. It argues that transdisciplinary research approaches and the co-production of knowledge are essential in understanding the social acceptability of green sanitation.

Research Gaps In Contaminants Of Emerging Concern (CECs): Routes To The Standardization Of Chemical Test Methods By GC/LC-Mass Spectrometry: A Review

A literature review was undertaken with a focus on 1) identifying the research gaps regarding CECs, 2) identifying the most common ones, and 3) identifying the typical analytical methods/technologies employed, for their analysis. A total of 214 papers were noted, with a total of 21 review articles (9.8%). Of this total, a surprisingly high number were from South Africa alone: 117 (54.7%), of which 44 (20.6%) reports were associated with South Africa’s Water Research Commission (WRC). The top three CECs research gaps were (decreasing rank: Number of “gaps”, %): 1) Toxicity/Risk/Impact (260, 21.5%), 2) Analysis/Tests/Methods (118, 9.8%) and 2) Future research/studies (118, 9.8%), and 3) Monitoring (89, 7.4%). The common classes of CECs that were reported on, were : (i) Chemical: pharmaceuticals, personal care products, steroids, chlorinated and brominated contaminants, PAHs, PCBs, phthalates, alkyl phenols, herbicides, organochlorine pesticides, engineered nanomaterials and (ii) “Microbiological”: antibiotic resistance genes, human enteric bacteria and viruses, microbial pathogens (e.g., E Coli, rotavirus, Crypto, etc.), infectious biological water contaminants (e.g., E Coli isolates), cyanobacterial blooms (Microcystis). Common test methods used for analysis of the chemical contaminants were found to be chromatography (gas, liquid)-mass spectrometry; for the microbial contaminants, they were culture-based methods, ELISA, fluorescence microscopy, qPCR, RT-qPCR, gel electrophoresis, Raman spectroscopy, and also chromatography (largely liquid)-mass spectrometry, were also used. Some proposals were additionally made to address the very common, significant research gaps noted in CECs research, especially the standardization of analytical chemical test methods, based on chromatography-mass spectrometry, for quantification.

Impact of Water Research Commission Cowpea Project on the improvement of cropping systems and nutrition of farmers in Limpopo province, South Africa

Two pilot surveys were conducted to assess the status of cultural practices, the diversity of crops grown and diet, training and skill development, as well as the daily diet eaten among the farmers in the study areas (Ga-Thaba and Bela-Bela). The purpose of the pre-project commencement survey (Survey 1) was to enable the project team to ascertain whether there was any gap or felt needs that the project could execute. In light of this, Survey 1 was conducted to determine the status of the cropping systems, crops grown, constraints to production, and dietary intakes in the communities at the initiation of the project. This ascertained the potential gaps or needs that the project could accomplish in the communities. The other survey, the post-project execution survey (Survey 2) was to assess whether there were positive changes or impacts at the end of the project stemming from the activities of the project in the areas of cultural practices, crop diversity, dietary intake and nutrition of farmers, training of farmers, constraints to production, utilisation and uptake of the benefits. During surveys 1 and 2, a total of 42 and 50 farmers were sampled from Ga-Thaba and Bela-Bela communities, respectively in 2015 at the initiation of the project and in 2019 at the completion of the project. Results arising from the sampled farmers indicate that from the variables measured during Survey 1, significant information or gaps as the dire needs of the farmers were identified which showed that the project was relevant for the study areas. In addition, the results from Survey 2 indicate that the project was appropriate to meet the needs of the farmers, filling the gaps identified during Survey 1. This implied that the project was successfully able to attain the stated objectives and added value to the livelihoods of the farmers in terms of crop diversification, the dietary intakes and diversity, training and skill development to empower and improve the communities on rural livelihoods, food security and nutrition. Key words: Crop diversity, cowpea, dietary intake, empowerment, food security and nutrition

Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), Socio Environment and Socio Education

Purpose: The 2023 Global Sustainable Development Report will be launched as the world approaches the half-way point of the 2030 Agenda and struggles to rebuild in the aftermath (or in the midst) of the COVID-19 pandemic. Compare the document counts for up to 15 sources, year 2020 until 2021, there are increase of documents based on Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), Socio Education documents published in SCOPUS.COM. Subject area dominant is Social Sciences, followed by Environmental Science, Medicine.
 Design/methodology/approach: Source Documents dominant is International Journal Of Emerging Technologies In Learning, followed by Sustainability Switzerland, E3s Web Of Conferences, and Lancet. There are no Indonesia journal. By country or territory, Nigeria, United Kingdom, and India dominant in the World. In Malaysia, very strong, followed by Viet Nam, Indonesia, Philippines, Singapore, Myanmar, and Thailand. By funding sponsor, dominant Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, followed by Covenant University, Covenant University Centre for Research, Innovation and Discovery, European Commission, and Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia. There are no Indonesia funding sponsor. By affiliations, dominant James Cook University, followed by Organisation Mondiale de la Santé, Lunds Universitet, and University of Cape Coast Ghana. There are no Indonesia affiliations. Compare the document counts for up to 15 sources, year 2020 until 2021, there are increase of documents based on Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), Socio Environment documents published in SCOPUS.COM.
 Findings: Subject area dominant is Social Sciences, followed by Environmental Science, Energy. Source Documents dominant is Energy Reports journal, followed by Sustainability Science journal, International Organisations Research Journa, Smart Innovation Systems And Technologies journal, and Sustainability Switzerland journal. There are no Indonesia journal. By country or territory, United Kingdom dominant, followed by South Africa and Nigeria. In ASEAN dominant Indonesia and Malaysia. By funding sponsor, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation dominant, followed by Bundesministerium für Bildung undForschung, Centre for International Forestry Research, European Commission, and European Social Fund. None from Indonesia. By affiliations, University of KwaZulu-Natal dominant, followed by Dokuz Eylül Üniversitesi, South African Water Research Commission, University of Venda, and Russian Presidential Academy of National, from Indonesia there is Universitas Indonesia, Universitas Indonesia, 29,793 documents, whole institution, 28,845 documents, affiliation only, 17,394 Authors, Document count (high-low), Medicine 7,069 docs, Engineering 5,685 docs, and Physics and Astronomy 5,145 docs. Universitas Indonesia research publication connected with Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), Socio Environment.
 Paper type: Research paper

Water security in rural Eastern Cape, SA: Interrogating the impacts of politics and climate change

Achieving water security remains one of the central challenges to many developing countries today. According to the South African Water Research Commission, the availability of safe and affordable water is crucial in ensuring a healthy and productive life for all. Despite the national standards set to measure the quality of water in South Africa, the sources and ‘quality standards’ of water in rural Eastern Cape remain a major concern. Based on empirical research with 140 respondents and interactions; this paper highlights that most rural residents in the Eastern Cape still access water from dams, rivers and streams for domestic and agricultural purposes. Again, the availability of water throughout the year is not guaranteed due to changing global climatic conditions with both humans and livestock accessing water from same sources. The paper concludes that climate change and politico-administrative ‘negligence’ compound water insecurity in most of South Africa's rural communities.

Sustainable agricultural online course development framework for community-based transformative learning

This paper examines the change drivers and challenges involved in the transitioning of the Water Research Commission’s Amanzi for Food training of agricultural educators and farmers’ face-to-face co-engaged course to an online course aligned with Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) (www.amanziforfood.co.za). The study drew on system thinking to analyse components within the course development activity system. Insights from stakeholder engagement and expansive learning processes fed into key emergent themes which informed the e-learning processes. The research highlights how the development and implementation of a sustainable training programme using Information and Communication Technology (ICT) tools bring together learning processes occurring within different interconnected dimensions and in complex and unpredictable ways. It became clear that to utilise e-learning as a mediating artifact capable of facilitating social transformation towards suitability expansively, certain conditions needed to be in place. The drivers that impacted the development of e-learning as a mediating tool included the need to find an alternative learning platform for broader dissemination of Rain Water Harvesting & Conservation (RWH&C) knowledge and alignment with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). This study concludes that this transition requires specific tools, adequate time, an understanding of e-learning pedagogical processes and learning platform functionalities (requiring upskilling of the digital literacy of the development team and other actors), and workable data-efficient or data-free, smartphone-friendly training and communication platforms.

User-acceptance of sanitation technologies in South Africa and Malawi

There is a great need for the planning and implementation of sanitation technologies (STs) to take into consideration the user-acceptance factor and, therefore, limit resource wastage. This article aims to determine whether the pattern of relative importance of the factors that affect sanitation technology user-acceptance (STUA) is similar across study areas located in South Africa and Malawi with respect to the STs rolled out. Information from the study is especially critical for resource conservation, considering the recent relatively poor performance of the South African economy (a 7% slump) in 2020. Desktop research methods, using data from previous studies, were used to perform an analysis of the significance of the underlying factors that influence STUA. These were based on a systematic review that uses a structured protocol for literature review, together with the snowball approach. The methodology proposed by the Water Research Commission (WRC) under the sanitation suitability index was used to perform the sanitation technology comparisons. This article adds value to previous research in that, unlike previous research studies, it considers several relevant researched technologies to establish whether there exist similar patterns of relative significance of factors that influence STUA. Reliability, health, user- and technical acceptability were the predominant influencers of STUA. Education, training, and technical support are necessary throughout the sanitation project life cycle.

A review of trends in scientific coverage of water governance in South Africa and what this means for agenda-setting of public investment in water governance R&D

A review of global trends in water governance reveals a paradigm dominated by political and institutional change which becomes increasingly aligned with global shifts towards sustainability and also a rapid decline in the hydraulic mission. Closely aligned to these trends, but distinct in its own trajectory, South Africa’s water governance dynamics have evolved through a period of considerable socio-political change marked by inequitable resource allocation and water scarcity. This paper presents the results of a review of water governance research and development (R&D) trends in South Africa, aimed at informing the national funding agency – the Water Research Commission (WRC) – in its agenda-setting process for future water governance research. Through a bibliometric analysis, a data-mining exercise, and stakeholder consultations, this paper distils four key areas of focus for the future of water governance research in South Africa: (i) that future water governance research needs to be more needs-based, solution-oriented and embedded within real-life contexts; (ii) the need for a paradigm shift in water governance research to a constructive, adaptive and rapid response research agenda in an environment of increasing change and uncertainty; (iii) the need for the enabling environment to be strengthened, including acknowledgement of the role of individuals as agents of change, and the role of WRC in establishing a community of practice for water governance experts that can respond to issues with agility; and (iv) a consolidation of fragmented project-based knowledge to a programmatic approach that builds the pipeline of expertise in the water governance R&D domain.

Water innovation in South Africa: Mapping innovation successes and diffusion constraints

Because of its long experience with water scarcity, South Africa has built a highly active research and innovation capacity in the water sector, which is spearheaded by the Water Research Commission (WRC). As a result, South African scientists have been among the significant contributors to new knowledge creation in the water innovation domain, especially in water treatment technologies. This innovation dynamism has however not been translated into a large-scale harnessing of technological innovations to avert the looming threat of water shortage. This paper combines innovation diffusion theory with the technology maturation framework to explore the main factors that help explain the pace of innovation diffusion in the South African water sector. Data from key informant interview analysis as well as available secondary sources indicate that financing constraints and technical validation difficulties are among the main hurdles limiting the ability of innovators to scale up their inventions for commercialisation. Adoption costs and lack of municipal support budget are the most important factors that limit the ability of low income rural households to adopt water innovations. Policy measures to support diffusion strategies are necessary to ensure that innovators have the means to overcome the multiple diffusion obstacles that they are confronted with.

Assessing the influence of DEM source on derived streamline and catchment boundary accuracy

Accurate DEM-derived streamlines and catchment boundaries are essential for hydrological modelling. Due to the popularity of hydrological parameters derived mainly from free DEMs, it is essential to investigate the accuracy of these parameters. This study compared the spatial accuracy of streamlines and catchment boundaries derived from available digital elevation models in South Africa. Two versions of Stellenbosch University DEMs (SUDEM5 and DEMSA2), the second version of the 30 m advanced spaceborne thermal emission and reflection radiometer global digital elevation model (ASTER GDEM2), the 30 and 90 m shuttle radar topography mission (SRTM30 and SRTM90 DEM), and the 90 m Water Research Commission DEM (WRC DEM) were considered. As a reference, a 1 m GEOEYE DEM was generated from GeoEye stereo images. Catchment boundaries and streamlines were extracted from the DEMs using the Arc Hydro module. A reference catchment boundary was generated from the GEOEYE DEM and verified during field visits. Reference streamlines were digitised at a scale of 1:10 000 from the 1 m orthorectified GeoEye images. Visual inspection, as well as quantitative measures such as correctness index, mean absolute error, root mean squares error and figure of merit index were used to validate the results. The study affirmed that high resolution (<30 m) DEMs produce more accurate parameters and that DEM source and resampling techniques also play a role. However, if high resolution DEMs are not available, the 30 m SRTM DEM is recommended as its vertical accuracy was relatively high and the quality of the streamlines and catchment boundary was good. In addition, it was found that the novel Euclidean distance-based MAE and RMSE proposed in this study to compare reference and DEM-extracted raster datasets of different resolutions is a more reliable indicator of geometrical accuracy than the correctness and figure of merit indices.

Enabling acceptance and use of ecological intensification options through engaging smallholder farmers in semi-arid rural Limpopo and Eastern Cape, South Africa

ABSTRACTEcological intensification is being promoted to address food security and environmental challenges. It has shown the potential to improve yields as well as adapt and mitigate the effects of climate variability and change. Despite the great potential, smallholder farmers continue to shun the latter. Apart from this, limited research has been conducted focussing on their acceptance and use in smallholder sub-Saharan African agricultural systems. In this study, a qualitative approach using the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) four constructs (performance, ease of use, social influence and enablers) was used to assess behavioral intention to accept and use ecological intensification options. A total of 97 smallholder farmers from diverse farm types in rural Limpopo and Eastern Cape, South Africa participated in focus group discussions to assess behavioral intention to accept and use ecological intensification options. Smallholder farmers revealed that they were exposed to a plethora of ecological intensification options. However, acceptance and utilization of these options were low, mainly due to lack of awareness, germplasm, and technical support. The four constructs of the UTAUT framework revealed locally relevant knowledge that must be considered for effective acceptance and use of ecological intensification options.Abbreviations: ACCESS: Alliance for Collaboration for Climate and Earth System Sciences; ADCI: African Climate Development Initiative; NRF: National Research Foundation; SSA: Sub Saharan Africa; UTAUT: Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology; WRC: Water Research Commission; FAO: Food and Agriculture Organisation; CA: Conservation Agriculture

Turning concepts into community driven catchment water management solutions: Foreword to the special HELP edition

This special volume consists of selected papers from the Symposium titled 'HELP in Action : Local Solutions to Global Water Problems - Lessons from the South' which was held at the Emperor's Palace, Johannesburg, South Africa from 4 to 9 November 2007. This symposium was ably hosted by the Department of Water Affairs and Forestry (DWAF) South Africa, in partnership with the International Water Management Institute (IWMI), the Water Research Commission (WRC), the Water Institute of Southern Africa (WISA) and the University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN).

Updating public participation in IWRM: A proposal for a focused and structured engagement with Catchment Management Strategies

Despite the strong emphasis on public participation in the National Water Act (NWA), South Africa has yet to implement a comprehensive and functional approach to public engagement at the level of Water Management Areas. Part of the problem is that actual requirements are not explicitly articulated anywhere. This has led to the situation where public participatory processes are poorly conceptualised, misdirected and often perceived as confusing by stakeholders. ‘Participation fatigue’ is the consequence of this accompanied by a growing frustration with the implementation of the content of the Act. The intention for decentralised democratic water resources management is consequently seriously jeopardised if the public participation processes are not clearly presented in the public domain. In this paper we draw on a number of sources, namely a national pilot integrated catchment management programme called the Save the Sand Project initiated in the north-eastern part of SA, a Water Research Commission project on public participation and a DWAF project that funded the exploration of public participation in the Sand River Catchment. The latter (2005 -2007) supported a better understanding of public participation processes and dynamics in a high-density rural catchment, the findings from which are reported here. Additionally this paper is referenced against the current discourse on public participation in water resources aimed at elucidating public participation in integrated water resource management (IWRM) in South Africa. The focus of the work reported in this paper is specifically on the development and implementation of catchment management strategies as the locus of decentralised, democratised, participatory water resource management. In this paper we start out by discussing how complexities surrounding public engagement might present newly established catchment management agencies (CMAs) with serious challenges and then move on to a proposed framework for focusing public engagement on specific IWRM tasks. The framework outlines tasks where multi-stakeholder platforms collaboratively design strategic water management actions that are assembled as the catchment management strategy (CMS), a statutory obligation for CMAs. Keywords: public participation, catchment management strategies, National Water Act, integrated water resource management

Water security at local government level in South Africa: a qualitative interview-based analysis

BackgroundAs one of the 40 driest countries in the world with an annual average rainfall of 497 mm, South Africa is a water-scarce country. Additionally, South Africa's rate of economic development is closely linked to its water security. Thus, increasing water stress, supply variability, flooding, and water pollution levels and inadequate access to safe drinking water and sanitation are slowing economic growth. Despite the high premium placed on South Africa's water resources, no commonly shared understanding of water security exists. The aim of this study was to research, using qualitative social scientific methods, how people in two South African localities understand water security. MethodsWe used interviews and qualitative analyses to establish and compare how people from different lifestyles perceive water security in the Greater Sekhukhune District and the eThekwini Metropolitan Municipalities of South Africa. The inland Sekhukhune has a drier climate and more rural socioeconomic profile than the coastal, urbanised eThekwini with its complex economy and diverse socioeconomic structure. We did face-to-face structured interviews with a diverse stakeholder group consisting of community members, traditional leaders, municipal officials, researchers, business people, and farmers in each municipality and focus groups in two communities of each municipality: Leeuwfontein and Motetema (Sekhukhune) and Inanda and Ntshongweni (eThekwini). Each interview lasted 40–60 min, and focus group discussions lasted 90–120 min. We asked the respondents about their understanding of the concept of water security and whether they believe that, at the local and national level, the authorities had achieved water security for all. FindingsFollowing a qualitative analysis, we found that water security is a state of mind based on context-specific (ie, localised and individualised) perceptions held by an individual of water-related threats and how it influences individuals and their natural surroundings. We discovered that perceptions depend on many different factors. First, the changing state of the natural environment a person lives in—eg, one respondent from eThekwini said “When it rains in summer a lot of stuff gets washed down into the storm water drains and into the sea. The main concern here is pathogens.” Second, socioeconomic status is important—one community member in Ntshongweni noted that only some community members have the financial means to buy water tanks for rain harvesting to enhance their household water security. Third, experiences relating to various interactions with local governments and members of the community can also affect perceptions—eg, some respondents were unsatisfied with responses to problems by local authorities. A respondent from eThekwini said “Sometimes when we report water leakages it takes a long time for them to get fixed”, and a respondent from Sekhukhune said “Sometimes we have asked the authorities about the problem of water supply cuts, they told us about a stolen water pump and gave us inconsistent answers”. Therefore, a changing natural environment, like flooding and drought, is not the only variable that influences water security perceptions; such conceptualisations also depend to varying degrees on interpersonal relationships (eg, with local authorities) and practices (eg, collecting rainwater), which are directly or indirectly related to water security enhancement. InterpretationHow people perceive water security has policy implications at the local government level in South Africa and further afield in other low-income and middle-income countries where data collection is unreliable. We established that people from diverse lifestyles hold various understandings and interpretations of water security relating mainly to the availability, access, and quality of water resources. Understanding how people perceive water security in specific localities could aid policy makers and health practitioners to develop more nuanced responses to ameliorate water insecurity and its negative effects on people's wellbeing. FundingWe received funding for this project from the Department of Science and Technology, South Africa, through a Parliamentary Grant, the National Research Foundation, South Africa, the Water Research Commission, South Africa, and the European Union's KnowHow Marie Curie International Staff Exchange Scheme.

Bibliometric trends of South African environmental health articles between 1998 and 2015: Making local research visible and retrievable.

South Africa (SA) has to grapple with multiple burdens of disease for which environmental factors have a role to play in both causation and prevention. This article describes a bibliometric review of environmental health indexed literature for SA over an 18-year period. To provide an overview of the nature of SA-based published environmental health indexed research and to identify search challenges, frequently researched topics, and gaps and opportunities for future research. The Web of Science, PubMed and Science Direct were used to search for original, peer-reviewed and review articles with the inclusion criteria 'environmental health' and 'South Africa' available online and published between 1998 and 2015, inclusively. A total of 230 journal articles were included in the bibliometric analysis. The highest number of articles (n=54) was published in 2015. The majority of the first authors were affiliated with SA institutions (n=160, 69.5%). For the articles where funding was explicitly declared (n=148), the three most frequently occurring agencies that funded the published research were the National Research Foundation in SA (n=17), the South African Medical Research Council (n=13) and the Water Research Commission (n=9). There was little inter-annual/environmental health category variation over time owing to the relatively small sample size. The largest number of retrieved journal articles was in the area of environmental pollution control (n=76), followed by environmental health lifestyle and behaviour-related topics (n=42) and then water monitoring (n=26). Despite the research needed to solve large environmental health challenges in SA, environmental health was only used as a keyword in title, author keywords or abstract for 230 SA-based studies over an 18-year period. This makes it extremely difficult for environmental health research to be located and used to inform the profession as well as the research agenda. Several issues that environmental health practitioners are typically tasked to implement and monitor are not indexed as environmental health topics. The need for authors to use 'environmental health' as a keyword is emphasised, particularly if research is to inform decision-making and policy support, as well as guide future research in the country.

Spatial planning and land-use management tools in aid of securing water sustainability: The case study of Mogalakwena Local Municipality in South Africa

The concept of Water-Sensitive Settlements is gaining importance within broader sustainability thinking. There is limited research in urban planning literature, in particular, on the quantitative impact of land-use decisions on water resources. This article proposes a spatial modelling approach that combines land-use and water-consumption data in order to identify areas of intervention, which could feed into future development plans and strategies. The research considers the Mogalakwena Local Municipality as a case study, because of its socio-economic characteristics as well as the spatial and billing data that were generated from an ongoing research project funded by the Water Research Commission. It was evident that spatial modelling of land use and water consumption can be utilised as a tool to determine the impact of land-use decision on water resources. Having generated spatial information on ‘where’ and by ‘which’ land use the demand for water is highest, municipal planners are able to make informed future land-use decisions, which will ultimately affect water resources. In addition, the information can be used to enforce new thinking within the municipal spatial planning domain on, among others, implementing water-sensitive mitigation measures such as revisiting water tariff structures; re-evaluating the promised level of services; implementing water-efficiency building regulations, and rethinking the business-as-usual approach to settlement planning. Keywords: Spatial modelling, spatial planning, WSUD, Water-Sensitive Settlements

Are simple empirical crop coefficient approaches for determining pecan water use readily transferrable across a wide range of conditions?

The Water Research Commission (Project K5/1770) with co-funding from the National Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries of South Africa.

A feasibility and implementation model of small-scale hydropower development for rural electrification in South Africa: A case study of Kwa Madiba SSHP Plant

This research was completed in conjunction with the Water Research Commission and the OR Tambo District Municipality within the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa.