Services offered include the following
(please click for more information)
River Health and Water Quality ● Wetlands ● Environmental Engineering ● Mining ● Biodiversity ● GIS and Biophysical Spatial Planning ● Ecological Water Requirements and Reserve Determination Studies ● Water Use Licensing ● Hydrology ● Advanced Ecosystem Modelling ● Aquatic and Terrestrial Biodiversity Assessments ● Diatom Analysis ● Training ● Spill Management and Landfill Site Monitoring ● Environmental Impact Assessments ● Environmental Data Management ● Corporate Social Investment ● Research ● Development and Sale of Industry Tools
River Health and Water Quality
- Water quality monitoring programmes
- Water quality testing
- River health assessments
- Buffer zone determination
- Importance and sensitivity assessments
- Fish surveys
- Riparian vegetation assessments
- River rehabilitation
- Spill contamination impact assessment
- Mitigation and management recommendations
- Monitoring and management of habitat recovery following spill incidents
Wetlands
- Wetland delineation and inventories
- Wetland functional assessments (ecological importance and sensitivity)
- Wetland health assessments (present ecological state)
- Wetland rehabilitation planning and implementation
- Wetland offset planning and recommendations
- Wetland rehabilitation construction and design
- Determination of wetland goods and services
- Wetland Reserve determination studies
Environmental Engineering
- Freshwater ecosystem rehabilitation planning, design and implementation
- Monitor and evaluation - specifically wetland rehabilitation intervention outputs and incomes
- Soil conservation planning, design and implementation
- Best management practices and recommendations to manage the impact of construction activities on freshwater ecosystems
- Recommendations informing stormwater planning to reduce impacts on the receiving environment
- Low volume gravel road planning, design and upgrades
- Forestry road network optimising planning
- Quarry management plans
Mining
- Baseline assessments of freshwater and terrestrial ecosystems prior to mining activities
- Monitoring, mitigation and management of impacts on freshwater and terrestrial ecosystems
- Mitigation and management plans to reduce impacts and manage pollutants
- Freshwater and terrestrial ecosystem rehabilitation plans and mine closure plans
Biodiversity
- Terrestrial and aquatic biodiversity assessments
- Deskop assessments and reviews
- In-field fauna and flora surveys
- Assessment of conservation important species (Red data, rare and endemic species)
- Classification, mapping and verification of vegetation, land cover and habitats
- Ecosystem services assessments
GIS and Biophysical Spatial Planning
- Mapping and modelling the biological and physical environment
- Habitat/species sensitivity mapping
- Spatial Development Plans (SDP) and Frameworks (SDF)
- Biodiversity conservation plans and sector plans
- Biophysical constraints and limitations studies
- Strategic Environmental Assessments (SEA)
- Local Area Plans (LAP)
Ecological Water Requirements and Reserve Determination Studies
- Determination of the aquatic environmental Reserve
- Environmental flow requirements to maintain ecological condition
Water Use Licensing
- Water use licensing applications (WULAs)
- Advice on requirements for WULAs
- Facilitate efficient WULA applications from start to finish, saving time and money
Hydrology
- Hydrological modelling
- Catchment management plans (CMP)
- Land use change impacts on water resources and mitigation thereof
- Development impacts on river hydrology
- Stormwater management plans and mitigation of stormflow impacts on receiving watercourses
- Water conservation and water demand management plans
Advanced Ecosystem Modelling
- Bayesian Network modelling to predict environmental risk
- Ecological cost-benefit analyses to optimise resource allocation and project success rates
- Integrating multiple source-stressor-recetor-response modelling
Aquatic and Terrestrial Biodiversity Assessments
- Specialist studies on the presence and health of wetland, river and terrestrial habitats and species on the site
- Environmental management plans
- Biophysical constraints and limitations studies to inform development planning and basic assessment or EIA process
Training
- miniSASS Training Course
- Introduction to Aquatic Ecology
- South African Scoring System version 5 (SASS5)
- Advanced EcoClassification Modelling Courses (e.g. MIRAI, FRAI, VEGRAI, IHI)
- Advanced EcoStatus and EIS determination Courses
- QGIS Courses
Spill Management and Landfill Site Monitoring
- Spill contamination and impact assessments
- Mitigation and management recommendations
- Monitoring and habitat recovery following spill incidents
- Hazardous land fill site monitoring
- Water quality monitoring
- Aquatic biomonitoring
Environmental Impact Assessments (Specialist Input)
- Aquatic and terrestrial biodiversity assessments
- Environmental management plans
- Scoping phase site biophysical constraints and limitations studies to inform development planning and basic assessment or EIA process
Environmental Data Management
- Environmental monitoring data gaps and needs analyses
- Development of environmental databases, inlcuding spatial data management
- Development of on-line data management, spatial display and data interpretation systems
Corporate Social Investment
- Facilitation of river care initiatives
- Environmental-based community development programmes
- Training to provide skills for sustainable livelihoods
- Assist communities to build resilience into their landscapes
Research
- Lead researchers on numerous long-term research projects within government and non-government sectors including the Water Research Commission, government departments, municipalities, mining, forestry and agriculture
- Collaborative research with national / international specialists
- Collaborative research with universities and other entities
Development and Sale of Industry Tools
- Research and development of new tools
- Adaptation of international tools for local use
- Developed and refined through research and applied use within the industry
- Available tools and products