(SOUTH AFRICA).

This thesis represents the original work by the author and has not otherwise been submitted in any form for any degree or diploma to any tertiary institution. Where use has been made of the work of others, it is duly acknowledged in the text. 11 The Inanda Dam, situated some 32 to 35km upstream of the Mgeni River estuary on the Indian Ocean 5 km north of Durban, was constructed between 1984 and 1989. This impoundment deprived the downstream section of a great volume of water and sediment supply, initiating significant downstream changes. This situation is compounded by sand winning which directly extracts about 210,000 tonnes of sediment from the Lower Mgeni further depriving the estuary of sediment. A 1997 study predicted that assuming a continuous competent discharge and low contribution of sediments from the tributaries, the channel would gradually scour. Other predictions included a reduction in the total sediments reaching the estuary, continued flushing of existing channel sediments downstream towards the estuary, site-specific channel bed erosion at times of peak water release, gradual build up of sediments near the estuary mouth, gradual fining of bed-load channel and estuarine sediments, an