Considerations for the design of river abstraction works in South Africa

Abstract

The South African climate oscill ates between drought and flood. This leads to extremes in river flow and sediment transport. While st orms last for minutes to days, the hydrological critical low flows can last for years during droughts. The strong variation in river flow associated with even higher variability in sediment loads make the design of river pumpstations and diversions highly complex in South Africa, especially if the water supply should have a low risk of failure. Diversion structures are generally used to divert water from an existing natural watercourse into a water supply conveyance system. For large diversions, such as the headworks for an irrigation main canal system that normally require a headpond, the diversion structure can include a weir, sluiceway, intake and fishway. This study focused on the following aspects of sediment control at abstraction works: a) Review of international state of the art technologies to control the sediment.

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