Dr Renias Dube  (PhD)

 

Graduated with the Degree, Philosophae Doctor: Water Resource Management

 

Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences

 

University of Pretoria

 

 

Renias Dube has worked as a Research Manager in the Pretoria based Water Research Commission since September 2002. In this capacity he managed 54 national research projects in the area of water resource management. He is currently the Research Manger and head of the Research Domain on Water and the Environment in the Water Research Commission.

 

In his PhD, which commenced in January 2000, entitled Appropriate positioning of modelling as a decision support tool for surface water resources planning in South Africa, he investigated the strategic aspects of water resources modelling approaches that are currently used, and should in future be used, in South Africa. The thesis evaluates the growing water problems in South Africa and the changes in water resources management approaches that are needed to accommodate and respond to these problems. In his research, he developed, calibrated and verified a water resources simulation tool that is targeted at advising future responses to similar water resources challenges. The model, HYDRO-25, that he developed in this thesis was applied to the Olifants-Doring water catchment, a very important national agricultural region. He simulated agricultural and water resources infrastructure development scenarios and provided a generic framework for deciding on the best possible development scenario for this particular region and other regions facing similar challenges.

 

As a research manager, he worked with local researchers in several water research projects, which resulted in 31 research publications and research papers at national and international level. Most of these research publications were published through the Water Research Commission and involved the inputs of several other local and international researchers. He is currently a national committee member of the South African National Committee for the International Association of Hydrological Sciences (SANCIAHS), a member of the Working for Water programme’s national hydrological research panel based in Cape Town and a member of the national Water Resource Systems Simulation Technical Advisory Group which is based at the Department of Water Affairs and Forestry’s Head Office in Pretoria.