The estuary falls within a strict security area of the Koingnaas mining concession of De Beers Consolidated Diamond Mines. Due to the active mining operations in the immediate vicinity of the estuary, security clearance is required. The Swartlintjies is approximately 30 km long from the mouth up to where it splits into a number of unnamed tributaries. The lower part of the Estuary consists of a flat, wide sandy riverbed which indicates that substantial flooding and concomitant silt deposition takes place at times. According to a memorandum from Agricultural Technical Services, the river and other West coast rivers are "young" rivers which are fast flowing when in flood and as the flow seldom reaches the sea the silt load is sited along the upper reaches of these rivers.
Reference:
CSIR, Estuarine and Coastal Research Unit. 1982. Report 4 of the Estuaries of the Cape, Part 2: Synopses of available information on individual systems series, edited by Heydorn, AEF and Grindley, JR. Stellenbosch: CSIR. (CSIR research report 403)
Estuarine and Coastal Research Unit, E. (1981). Swartlintjies (CW4) (CSIR Research Report number). CSIR, National Research Institute for Oceanology. Retrieved from http://hdl.handle.net/10204/3476
Estuarine and Coastal Research Unit, ECRU Swartlintjies (CW4). CSIR Research Report number. CSIR, National Research Institute for Oceanology, 1981. http://hdl.handle.net/10204/3476
Estuarine and Coastal Research Unit E. Swartlintjies (CW4). 1981 [cited yyyy month dd]. Available from: http://hdl.handle.net/10204/3476