Impact of sand mining on water quality and quantity of Mpenjati River-Mthembu.

Sand mining is a global activity that is receiving increasing media attention due to perceived  negative environmental and social impacts. As calls grow for stronger regulation of mining, there  is a need to understand the scientific evidence to support effective management. Mpenjati river  is one of the longest rivers in the lower south of KwaZulu Natal its flows in between mountains  that is reach in variety of vegetation types and grasslands, sand mining has been spotted as the  highest threat to the river and caused the water quality and quantity becomes harmful to plants,  vertebrates and invertebrates fauna in the river. Several methods and material has been used to  analyse, interpreted to reveal reliable results of the study of the river. The results of the research  disclosed that there were many negative impacts which affects the river besides sand mining that  changes water quality e.g. in July month had lot of wind that collects all sediments and deposited  to the river, solar radiation and absence of riparian vegetation increased the temperature of the  water which lead to high turbidity as well, quarry sediments also affected water quality of the  river and extraction of sand at the banks of river system affected the quality of the river system  .Rivers are dynamic and their physical and chemical characteristics can change over a scale of  hours to years. Consequently, river and estuarine fish assemblages often exhibit large temporal  variations in abundance and composition related to changes in a range of parameters such as  river flow, river mouth phase, habitat availability, temperature, salinity and turbidity, all of which  are likely to be highly affected by climate change. Many organisms become more stressed  towards their range boundaries and the distributions of these species can be expected to shift as  environmental conditions change.