The IWR staff has a unique range of skills which enable them to address the complexity of the multiple use of freshwater resources. The professional staff are trained in Hydrology, River Ecology and Aquatic Biology. The institute is also fortunate to have a number of secretarial and technical support staff to assist with administration, computer programming, field and office data collection and processing.

On-going and completed projects include

• Environmental Water Quality
  • Unilever Centre for Environmental Water Quality (UCEWQ) Director's Report
  • The application of chronic (sub-lethal) toxicity endpoints to the development of resource quality objectives
  • Osmoregulation in freshwater invertebrates in response to exposure to salt pollution
  • Effects of detergents on a small stream in the Eastern Cape, South Africa. Phase II
  • Boksburg Lake and Wetland Project
  • Sasol: Environmental Water Quality Assessment
  • Richards Bay Minerals: Environmental Water Quality Assessment
  • The endocrine disruptor research programme at UCEWQ
  • Evaluation of methods for assessment of eco-toxicological risk due to complex effluent discharge
  • Diatoms populations and water quality in the Sundays River: 1970-2007
  • Greywater reuse in South Africa
  • Investigating the responses of South African aquatic invertebrates to laundry detergent exposure
  • The use of toxicity tests with indigenous algal species in water resource management
  • Potential use of fluctuating asymmetry as bioindicator in aquatic biomonitoring
  • Biomonitoring using microbial biodiversity as indicator of water quality changes in the Buffalo River, Eastern Cape.
• Hydrology
  • Development, testing and installation of a real-time ecological Reserve implementation method for the Thukela River
  • Ephemeral rivers hydrology
  • Links between water temperatures, ecological responses and flow rates: A framework for establishing water temperature guidelines for the ecological Reserve
  • Various hydrological consultancy projects
  • Various developments and applications of the SPATSIM software system
  • Modelling uncertainty in water resource estimation in Southern Africa
  • Revised parameter estimation methods for the Pitman monthly rainfall-runoff model
• Water Resource Management
  • The development of a framework for the involvement of local government in water resource management, linked to water services provision
  • A stakeholder driven process to develop a catchment management plan for the Kat River Valley
  • A case study of the wetland rehabilitation project in the Kromme River Valley floor marshes, Eastern Cape
  • Linking quantity and quality aspects of South African rivers
  • Modelling of the relationship between flow and water quality in South African freshwater systems