The aim of this project is to analyse the influ­ence of river basin morphol­ogy (land use, terrain and soil) and climate change on water flows in semi-arid environ­ments. Climate change and changes in land use have led to a shift in water distri­b­u­tion and carrier flows. This project is carried out in the context of the Integrated Water Gover­nance Support System Project in the Lepelle River in South Africa. The aim is to develop and test an innov­a­tive water manage­ment system.

Increased anthro­pogenic activ­i­ties and climate change are causing a global shift in patterns of water fluxes. Semi-arid river basins are charac­ter­ized by more water stresses, extreme and sporadic climatic events, and have been projected to worsen in many regions under the influ­ence of climate change. Identi­fi­ca­tion of the dominant morpho­log­i­cal aspects and their influ­ence on water fluxes are neces­sary for water resources planning, improve­ment of model­ling approaches, charac­ter­i­za­tion of hydro­log­i­cal response patterns and their subse­quent influ­ence on ecosys­tem and energy flows.

This research super­vised by Prof. Dr.-Ing. Franz Nestmann aims to identify the role of river basin morphol­ogy (landuse, terrain and soils) and climate change on varia­tions in water parti­tion­ing. A hydraulic model is used in this study to charac­ter­ize water parti­tion­ing under the influ­ence of landuse and climatic and identi­fi­ca­tion of dominant morpho­log­i­cal factors that cause varia­tion in water parti­tion­ing. The model is set-up using a new calibra­tion approach to improve on water balanc­ing. Histor­i­cal and future climate data are used as the model forcing to quantify hydro­log­i­cal impacts of climate change. This project is under­taken within the context of Integrated Water Gover­nance Support System Project in the Olifants River Basin (South Africa). The objec­tive of the project is to develop and test an innov­a­tive water gover­nance system based on new techniques for easing water stress and sustain­ably manag­ing water resources.