River Rehabilitation Handbooks
Article written by Georgina van Biljon
October 2026
We are very excited about this recently published FREE River Rehabilitation Handbook that Intaba contributed towards - by the WRC (Water Research Commission) and authors: Liz Day, Hans King and Mandy Uys (copyright 2026). It is part of the 'Let's Fix our River's Series.' and has been developed as a companion series to Volumes 1-3 for the 'Comprehensive Manual for River Rehabilitation in South Africa', 2016 by Liz Day, Mark Rountree and Hans King (Water Research Commission Report No. TT 646/16 (download from WRC ).
Why is this such good news? We need practical guidelines on how to undertake river restoration in South Africa.
In this article I will be highlighting sections of the handbooks (this is not a summary) and making comments/ remarks on how this can potentially impact us.
Download the individual handbooks at:
Each chapter focuses on a different topic. Here is an outline of the topics:
Some highlights from the handbooks:
Handbook 1: Planning a River Rehabilitation Project
Planning is really the most important part of river rehabilitation.
If you don't know where to start, read this handbook.
Handbook 2: Understanding South African Rivers
Understanding river systems.
Management of rivers at catchment level: this is crutial. Most people agree 'What happens upstream will affect downstream'. However, one does not think of the whole area that the rivers drain from. The landuse practices - is there a lot of bare earth due to overgrazing and how is that affecting the sediments in the river. Or what is the infestation of aliens in the catchment causing?
One really needs to look BIG picture when trying to solve problems in a river system.
If you are struggling with the same problems, one needs to look big scale. Speak to your irrigation board and investigate.
Ecological condition of our rivers.
Handbook 3: The Role of Habitat, Plants and Animals
This handbook gives some practical advice on planting and other practical aspects. Which we do lots of...
Some of the information & photos in this handbook comes from Intaba's nursery.
Alien clearing is an important preparation before planting.
Understanding river zones: permanently wet, seasonally wet and temporary wet (dry bank) influences the plants you plant there.
Plant selection and sourcing.
Planting density and layout
Soil prep and irrigation: We preferably use some compost in the planting holes, but not always. We generally use irrigation to establish our plants. Dripper vs. overhead is usually the question. Not many people use overhead, unless they have a lot of water or they have some second hand ones.
Planting into artificial structures.
Geotextiles: We don't often use geotextiles, we prefer to use more seed to help with coverage.
Maintenance
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