KSA : Water Resources and Ecosystems
Thrust :
Programme: National Siltation Strategy
Title : Development of a Pilot Implementation Plan
ToR ID : 1009837
Contact Person: Lesego Gaegane < lesegog@wrc.org.za >
Closing Date: 5 May 2021
South Africa like a number of countries around the world relies heavily on dams to provide essential bulk water supply to its population. Despite extreme climate change events most surface water bodies can naturally regulate their input and output loads of sediment. The construction of dams disrupts normal surface water and sediment flow, leading to sediment being trapped in dams unavailable for essential downstream ecosystem functioning, erosion and ultimately resulting in a reduction in storage capacity of dams over time. Increasingly sediment removal from dams through dredging is seen as a potential way in which to regain lost storage capacity.
