Freshwater Monitoring Efforts Intensify in Kruger to Canyons Biosphere Region

Picture Courtesy: (Kruger2Canyon news) Freshwater Monitoring Efforts Intensify in K2C for more purification of Water Sources.

(The Post News)– In the heart of South Africa, bridging the famous Kruger National Park and the majestic Blyde River Canyon, lies the Kruger to Canyons (K2C) Biosphere Reserve, a biosphere reserve situated in the north-eastern region of South Africa that lies on both sides of the Limpopo and Mpumalanga provinces.

The area is recognised by the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) for its magnificent beauty and biodiversity. K2C has been registered with UNESCO since October 2001.

Amidst the richness of this ecosystem, a strategy very important to the region’s sustainability is in operation, which is Freshwater Monitoring.

Ecosystems containing fresh water in the K2C region are under great pressure due to multiple factors, including land-use changes, climate change, and the increasing demand from agriculture and the growing population of humans.

The Freshwater Monitoring programme by K2C is a significant task because water resources are not well managed. The programme is funded by the UNESCO BeResilient Project.

Various reasons lie under human activities such as illegal dumping in water sources and affect human beings relying on these sources, which are already negatively impacted.

These types of programmes have critical focus points like assessing water quality, cataloguing biodiversity within water sources, and measuring water availability. Testing of contamination like industrial runoff, agricultural pesticides, and other forms of pollution.

There are four teams of citizen scientists at K2C that have been divided to monitor different rivers at selected sites on a weekly basis between Bushbuckridge and Maruleng municipalities.

A new strategy for data collection and water quality is to use a new mobile application.

Data collected by citizen scientists includes physical characteristics, chemical characteristics, and biological characteristics through the use of a mini-stream assessment scoring system.

As global climate patterns become unpredictable, such approaches are important for adapting to change while protecting precious resources like freshwater.

With the quality data obtained, it is possible for K2C to track changes and make decisions accordingly on how to safeguard freshwater sources, enabling communities to benefit from the precious sources.

The Kruger to Canyons Biosphere Region serves as proof of the fact that through partnership efforts between scientists, government entities, local communities, and NGO’s, it is possible to manage and protect important freshwater sources in one of our planet’s most diverse biological hotspots.