Newsletter 2025
Find out about what our team got up to during 2025 in our annual newsletter!
Contamination and Remediation
World Environment Day: Ending plastic pollution
World Environment Day, celebrated on 5th June each year, is a powerful reminder of our collective responsibility to protect our planet. The 2025 theme, “ending plastic pollution globally”, calls for urgent action against the pervasive environmental threat posed by plastic waste. Beyond addressing plastic pollution, World Environment Day also promotes broader environmental values such as…
Bitten by the Bug: SASS5 Training
In April, Junior Environmentalist Kim Parker, had the incredible opportunity to attend the South African Scoring System (SASS5) Training Course hosted by the Freshwater Research Centre in Kommetjie, Cape Town. This four-day course provided hands-on experience conducting SASS5 biomonitoring – a rapid aquatic biomonitoring method used to assess the health of rivers and streams in…
Ground truthing: Ensuring accurate environmental management
Why is ground truthing important? Ground truthing plays an essential role in environmental science by connecting remote sensing data with real-world conditions. It involves the direct observation and validation of data collected remotely, such as satellite imagery or aerial surveys, by conducting on-the-ground investigations. This practice ensures the accuracy and reliability of environmental assessments, which…
Newsletter 2024
Find out about what our team got up to during 2024 in our annual newsletter!
Why are wetlands important?
Reduce flood flows Wetlands absorb initial surges in water flows along rivers. Floodplain wetlands provide larger areas to contain flood flows and reduce the effect of floods on downstream areas. In urban areas wetlands are particularly important as they can prevent damage to property from flood events. Maintain baseflows Wetlands store flows from rivers, flood…
World Soil Day: The significance of sustainable soil management
The United Nations’ World Soil Day is held annually on the 5th of December and emphasises the importance of sustainable soil management. World Soil Day 2022 and its campaign “Soils: Where food begins” aims to focus attention on the importance of maintaining healthy ecosystems and human well-being by addressing the growing challenges in soil management, increasing soil…
The Monitor-Model-Manage Approach
Why monitor-model-manage? The monitor-model-manage approach forms the basis for wellfield management practiced at Umvoto. The approach involves the collection, analysis and interpretation of relevant hydroclimatological, geological, hydrogeological data and information, which is used to develop a conceptual and numerical model of a study area. The model is used to run various predictive scenarios with the…
Contaminants of Emerging Concern in our Water Resources
Within the wide scope of work that Umvoto undertakes, water quality monitoring and contamination assessments are a key part of water resource development and management. Over the last two years, Umvoto has undertaken sampling for contaminants of emerging concern (CECs) in the Cape Flats and Atlantis Aquifers in the Western Cape, with the aim of…
