Assessment of the water quality and quantity of the upper Liesbeek River dominated by Cannon Spring discharges: Ecological considerations for the Cannon Spring developmen

Abstract

The ecology of spring fed rivers has been under-studied in South Africa. As a result, little is known or documented on the effects of seasonal variation of flows on the species diversity, distribution and abundance of aquatic macroinvertebrates in rivers dominated by spring discharges in, South Africa. In order to expand our understanding of the structure and functioning of spring fed rivers, the study determined and compared the current ecological state of the spring fed Liesbeek River tributary and the non-spring fed Disa River focusing on discharge, water quality and macroinvertebrates.