The impact of agricultural transformation on water quality in a data-scarce, dryland landscape-a case study in the Bot River, South Africa.

Transformation of natural vegetation to cultivated fields has resulted in marked increases in water quality degradation and nutrient loading of rivers globally. In many developing countries, monitoring and evaluating the impacts of agriculture on water quality are limited by financial constraints and focus is given to large water bodies. This paper presents and discusses the results of a year-long monitoring of a typical river system in an agricultural setting, namely the Bot River, Western Cape, South Africa.