Abstract
In South Africa, wetlands are highly regarded for the treatment of mine-water pollution in gold mine areas of the Witwatersrand basin for over a century. The current work addresses the role of small wetlands developed around micro-dams that are used for recreational purpose around the city of Johannesburg. Integrated monitoring program was developed that includes physico-chemical, chemical, biological oxygen demand (BOD5) and microbial determination. Based on the monitoring results, the overall removal efficiency of the wetlands were about 60 % for BOD5 and 76 to 100 % for microbial count. Comparative analysis of BOD5 in the micro-dams and piezometers resulted in the decrease in concentration in the range of 70 to 83 %, which indicates an important role of sediments in the attenuation process. Observational evidences suggest that wetlands play a paramount role in the maintenance of water quality in the micro-dams, which is destined for different environmental uses in Johannesburg, South Africa.
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The author would like to thank the participation of Honours students particularly I. Mogatusi, M. Setladi and T. Ramsaroop during the field and laboratory based data collection and analyses.
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Abiye, T. The Role of Wetlands Associated to Urban Micro-Dams in Pollution Attenuation, Johannesburg, South Africa. Wetlands 35, 1127–1136 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13157-015-0700-0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13157-015-0700-0