Surina Esterhuyse

• PhD
• Researcher at University of the Free State

Managed aquifer recharge (MAR) in Southern Africa is nothing new and various projects have been completed with great success since the 1950s. In the Western Karoo, South Africa, climate change is predicted to cause prolonged droughts. Recent droughts have had devastating effects on the water supply to dispersed communities, affecting their lives an...

Global restoration is a priority given the onset of the United Nations’ decade for restoration. It is challenging to restore arid lands from mining impacts, especially where topsoil deficits exist. Successful rehabilitation is essential for alternative land use after mining. This bioassay aimed to establish whether and why some combinations of iron...

Unconventional oil and gas (UOG) extraction can augment energy supplies in countries with viable gas resources, but it risks damaging water resources. Water supply problems for fracking can also limit UOG extraction, especially in water-stressed regions. Regulations are one of the main tools used to minimize UOG extraction impacts on water resource...

Coal is an important energy resource in South Africa. The environmental sustainability of coal extraction is however questionable. This is especially true for natural water sources, which can be severely degraded by coal mining activities. The impacts of coal mining on water resources include direct, indirect, induced, and cumulative impacts. In th...

Unconventional oil and gas (UOG) is an important energy source for many countries, but requires large quantities of water for its development, and may pollute water resources. Regulations are one of the main tools to achieve government policy on natural resource protection. South Africa, which is energy-constrained, but also water-scarce, is curren...

Aim: This chapter explains hydrocarbon extraction and discusses its effects on inland water resources. Main concepts covered: Section “Hydrocarbon extraction overview” provides an overview of the history of hydrocarbon extraction, the occurrence, and formation of hydrocarbon resources, and explains the conventional and unconventional hydrocarbon ex...

This book forms part of a larger research project at the University of the Free State (UFS) in South Africa that is investigating the consequences of mining for local communities and mining towns. The book analyses the current situation in Emalahleni and considers the likelihood of a just transition across a range of fields. The case study of the m...

Groundwater resource quality monitoring before, during, and after unconventional oil and gas (UOG) extraction would assist in protecting groundwater resources. Limited laboratory analytical capacity may, however, hamper effective monitoring. We assessed South African (SA) laboratory analytical capabilities for specific groundwater monitoring parame...

This article reviews three managed aquifer recharge (MAR) sites in the Great Karoo, Northern Cape province of South Africa. The Karoo has limited surface water resources, and groundwater resources are therefore targeted for water supply. MAR systems show unique potential to reduce water scarcity in this area and to mitigate the impacts of climate c...

Unconventional oil and gas (UOG) extraction using fracking can damage groundwater resources, a crucial resource in many countries. Protecting groundwater will become more urgent as climate change and population growth increase pressure on water demand, especially in water‐scarce countries. But despite the strategic importance of groundwater, it is...

In the past few years numerous assumptions were made on groundwater in the Karoo Basin and related shale gas development, but not many baseline studies were conducted on groundwater and on boreholes where methane currently occurs. This article focuses on one of these boreholes (BHA) in the Ubuntu Local Municipality area, located close to a dolerite...

Unconventional oil and gas (UOG) exploitation may generate large volumes of wastewater, with dire environmental consequences if not properly managed. We systematically reviewed literature, reports, and fracking databases to determine possible volumes of wastewater that may be generated during UOG extraction. We then determined ranges of expected UO...

Scientific assessments are social processes which embrace exchanges between scientists and society. They are designed to allow for multiple interactions and encourage the co-generation of knowledge among a diversity of participants. Such a process was attempted in the South African context, applied to the contested social issue of shale gas develop...

Hydraulic fracturing has made large reserves of previously unavailable unconventional oil and gas (UOG) resources accessible. Despite the advantages of energy security and job creation, potential environmental and socio-economic risks are associated with the extraction of unconventional oil and gas. The impacts of UOG development occur on a regiona...

Various biophysical and socio-economic impacts may be associated with unconventional oil and gas (UOG) extraction. A vulnerability map may assist governments during environmental assessments, spatial planning and the regulation of UOG extraction, as well as decision-making around UOG extraction in fragile areas. A regional interactive vulnerability...

Some of the most important issues surrounding unconventional oil and gas (UOG) extraction are the possible impacts of this activity on potable groundwater resources and how to minimise and mitigate such impacts. A groundwater vulnerability map for UOG extraction has been developed as part of an interactive vulnerability map for South Africa in an e...

The Central Karoo is an arid, extensive landscape, experienced by many people as a sanctuary of austere but captivating beauty. At the same time, the people who live in the region are mostly poor - high levels of unemployment and inequality characterise the local economies and social fabric. South Africa is investigating the opportunities for intro...

The potential economic and energy security opportunities of a medium to large shale gas resource could be substantial for South Africa; as are both the potential social and environmental risks associated with a domestic gas industry in the Central Karoo. The development of shale gas using vertical and horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing or...

Water availability/supply for shale gas development (SGD) in the assessment study area is severely constrained. Surface water availability is generally low, with large areas of non-perennial, episodic and ephemeral streams experiencing very high inter-annual variability (Subsection 5.2.3). The surface water resources in the study area are already s...

Environmental water requirement (EWR) assessment methods, for ascertaining how much water should be retained in rivers to sustain ecological functioning and desired levels of biodiversity, have mostly been developed for perennial rivers. Despite non-perennial rivers comprising about 30–50% of the world's freshwater systems, data on their hydrology,...

Methods developed to determine the amount of water required (EWR) to sustain ecosystem services in non-perennial rivers need a different approach to those used in perennial rivers. Current EWR methods were mostly developed for use in perennial rivers. Non-perennial rivers differ from perennial ones in terms of variability in flow, periods of no-flo...

A fully integrated, physically-based MIKE SHE/MIKE11 model was developed for the Mokolo River basin flow system to simulate key hydraulic and hydrologic indicator inputs to the Downstream Response to Imposed Flow Transformation for Arid Rivers (DRIFT-ARID) decision support system (DSS). The DRIFT-ARID tool is used in this study to define environmen...

The 2nd African Water Symposium, in conjunction with the 6th Orange River Basin Symposium, was held on the campus of the University of the Free State, Bloemfontein, on 7 and 8 October 2015. The theme of the symposium was 'systems thinking in environmental water resources management', with the aim of evaluating and debating a holistic approach to wa...

The development of unconventional oil and gas resources, controversial in many countries, is currently being pursued by the South African government. This activity can have large impacts on the socio-economic and biophysical environments, especially water resources. In South Africa, little consideration has been given to water-related impacts from...

Since the 1920s, it has become clear that pumping fluids into or out of the Earth can cause earthquakes, 1 some of which are large enough to cause damage. Convincing evidence now indicates a causal relationship between seismicity and activities related to hydraulic fracturing in some cases. However, this relationship is not observed in all areas su...

Water policy and regulation are of vital importance for unconventional gas mining, which may have large impacts on water availability and water quality. However, various studies indicate that regulators have insufficient knowledge to make informed policy decisions on unconventional gas mining. Based on this observation we conducted a study on the a...

The main aims of this study was to investigate hydraulic fracturing by performing a background review; developing an interactive vulnerability map; and developing a provisional screening level monitoring protocol. This study aimed to contribute knowledge on issues associated with hydraulic fracturing and highlight vulnerable areas for specific aspe...

A policy vacuum exists in relation to the exploration and mining of unconventional gas in South Africa, with a recent survey showing that 86% of the respondents did not know what hydraulic fracturing entails. We conducted a study to determine the opinion of decision makers involved in formulating policy and regulating mining activities related to s...

a b s t r a c t The theory of alternative stable states (ASS) proposes that ecosystems can exhibit multiple equilibria stabilised by positive feedback mechanisms. There are signs that terrestrial and aquatic habitats could exhibit ASS and we investigate this possibility in eroded basins on an isolated rock outcrop. The coverage of terrestrial and a...

Research has played an important role in water resource management and a consensus on research objectives would increase the efficiency of these practices. In this paper we aimed to elicit the views of attendees of the 3 rd Orange River Basin Symposium regarding water-related research, by using both quantitative and qualitative responses to a quest...

The purpose of this study is to highlight the importance of groundwater vulnerability assessment and the need for groundwater protection measures. An example is taken from the Tanum Municipal area in Sweden and a case study was conducted with the available data on boreholes, water levels and chemical analysis. The case study included fieldwork on t...

Following the World Summit on Sustainable Development in 2002, the South African Department of Minerals and Energy (DME) initiated the “Sustainable Development through Mining” (SDM) programme to assist in the development of a strategic framework for sustainable development in the minerals and mining sector. This initiative supported a variety of pr...

The South African Department of Minerals and Energy (DME) initiated the Sustainable Development Through Mining (SDM) initiative in 2005 to develop and implement a strategy for sustainable development in the mining sector, with a view to reporting, in terms of the Johannesburg Plan of Implementation (JPI), to the United Nations in 2010 on the sector...

Thesis (M.Sc. (Institute of Groundwater Studies))--University of the Free State, 2004. Includes bibliography.