Dr Bennie van der Waal is a Fluvial Geomorphologist and is a Research Associate of Rhodes University, where he does research on river and sediment processes. His consulting work includes geomorphic assessments and hydraulic modelling for environmental flow assessments, geomorphic impacts of proposed dam and sand mining developments, catchment management planning (erosion mitigation) and landscape restoration planning.
He has been involved in setting environmental flows for various catchments in southern and eastern Africa. This work includes assessing geomorphic drivers at a catchment scale, assessing the sediment balance of the larger catchment with its impacts on the downstream ecosystems and determining flow and sediment requirements that will maintain the necessary geomorphic processes and habitat template.
The hydraulic modelling involves collecting field topographic and velocity data and modelling depth-discharge relationships and calculating depth-velocity frequency tables for a wide range of flows. Dr Van der Waal is a Member of the South African Association of Geomorphology and the South African Wetland Society. He contributes actively to international literature.
