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Heavy Metals Assimilation by Native and Non-Native Aquatic Macrophyte Species: A Case Study of a River in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa.

ABSTRACT: There is continuous deterioration of freshwater systems globally due to excessive anthropogenic inputs, which severely affect important socio-economic and ecological services. We investigated the water and sediment quality at 10 sites along the severely modified Swartkops River system in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa and then quantified the phytoremediation potential by native and non-native macrophyte species over a period of 6 months. We hypothesized that the presence of semi and permanent native and non-native macrophytes mats would reduce water and sediment contamination through assimilation downriver. Our results were variable and, thus, inconsistent with our hypotheses; there were no clear trends in water and sediment quality improvement along the Swartkops River. Although variable, the free-floating non-native macrophyte, Pontederia (=Eichhornia) crassipes recorded the highest assimilation potential of heavy metals in water (e.g., Fe and Cu) and sediments (e.g., Fe and Zn), followed by a submerged native macrophyte, Stuckenia pectinatus, and three native emergent species, Typha capensis, Cyperus sexangularis, and Phragmites australis. Pollution indices clearly showed the promising assimilation by native and non-native macrophytes species; however, the Swartkops River was heavily influenced by multiple non-point sources along the system, compromising the assimilation effect. Furthermore, we emphasise that excessive anthropogenic inputs compromise the system's ability to assimilate heavy metals inputs leading to water quality deterioration.

SUBMITTER: Tshithukhe G

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8703371 | biostudies-literature |

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Project description:Water scarcity remains a major threat to most rural areas in Africa due to heavy reliance on rainfed agriculture. This prompts the need to document and understand the determinants of traditional knowledge of water conservation practices. Our aim here is to document and identify the determinants of people's knowledge of traditional knowledge of water conservation in the South Africa's Eastern Cape province. A mixed research method was used. Purposive approach was used to collect data, i.e., elderly people were targeted during the face-to-face pre-COVID-19 pandemic interviews on the basis that traditional knowledge increases with age. However, people of different age groups were also included in the study especially when we employed only online questionnaire during the pandemic. We used questionnaire to collect all the data, and 93 people responded in total to our questions. We documented 10 traditional water conservation technologies. We identified rainfall variation, water quality issues, and increased water demand as the major challenges linked to these technologies, while easy access and the amount of water harvested are reported as benefits of these technologies. We found that traditional knowledge is not influenced by age (β = -0.006 ± 0.01, P = 0.64) or gender (β = -0.16 ± 0.25, P = 0.64) but rather correlates positively with geographic location, irrespective of the starting point of the distance measurement (distance from Port Elizabeth city: β = 0.002 ± 0.0008, P = 0.004; distance from Ngqushwa village: β = 0.0024 ± 0.0009, P = 0.008). Counterintuitively, formally educated people tend to have more traditional knowledge, but this is likely linked to the modern technologies (online survey and social media platforms) used to collect data during the COVID-19 pandemic. We suggest that traditional knowledge that has sustained life for centuries in rural communities must be integrated into water resource management to address water scarcity issues in rural Africa.

Dataset Information

Heavy Metals Assimilation by Native and Non-Native Aquatic Macrophyte Species: A Case Study of a River in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa.

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