Limnological criteria for management of water quality in the Southern hemisphere

Abstract

The report presents the proceedings of an international workshop on the management of Southern Hemisphere inland waters held in Wilderness, South Africa, in July 1984. It includes an introduction and seven chapters dealing sequentially with catchment management, stream regulation, pollution, salinization, turbidity and suspensoids, eutrophication, and fisheries. Given that limnology is concerned with understanding that diverse array of intrinsic and extrinsic factors which together govern the physical, chemical and biological characteristics of lakes, reservoirs and rivers, each chapter attempts to assess the specific or general role it makes to the holistic management of water quality in the Southern Hemisphere in general (excluding Antarctica and the sub-Antarctic islands) and the more arid latitudes in particular. In so doing, attention is drawn to the relevant use of terminology and definitions which, when used precisely, will materially decrease the semantic confusion which exists between the science of limnology and its application in the maintenance of surface water quality.

The chapters also represent a concensus of viewpoints between limnologists and managers in which a considerable amount of tedious descriptive detail has been very largely replaced by highlighting those processes considered essential not only in the implementation of modern limnological principles to water management practise, but also in drawing up research priorities.