The impact of agricultural transformation on water quality in a data-scarce, dryland landscape—a case study in the Bot River, South Africa

Transformation of natural vegetation to cultivated fields has resulted in marked increases in water quality degradation and nutrient loading of rivers globally. In many developing countries, monitoring and evaluating the impacts of agriculture on water quality are limited by financial constraints and focus is given to large water bodies. This paper presents and discusses the results of a year-long monitoring of a typical river system in an agricultural setting, namely the Bot River, Western Cape, South Africa. Results show seasonal increases in N concentrations and SRP driven by surrounding agricultural activities. Water chemistry and changes to nutrient loads were found to be site specific, which demonstrates that monitoring programmes focussing on one or two sites are not representative of the entire catchment. Monitoring and reporting of small river systems are thus un(der)-represented in large databases such as the UN Global Environment Monitoring System for Freshwater (GEMS/Water) programme. The results highlight the importance of selecting appropriate and representative monitoring sites for these rivers when budgetary constraints limit the number of points that can be monitored sustainably. The findings should also be applicable to similar catchments in the Western Cape and beyond as they demonstrate the magnitude of seasonal nutrient fluxes in the system.