This spatial rivers dataset is part of the South African Inventory of Inland Aquatic Ecosystems (SAIIAE) which was released with the National Biodiversity Assessment (NBA) 2018. In the NBA 2018 the National Freshwater Ecosystem Priority Area (NFEPA) rivers GIS layer was used to represent the diversity of rivers nationally. It used the 1:500 000 river network coverage available from the Department of Water and Sanitation (DWS) and can be downloaded from the following website: http://www.dwaf.gov.za/iwqs/gis_data/river/rivs500k.aspx. This GIS layer summarizes the river ecosystem types, river condition, Ecosystem Threat Status (ETS) and Ecosystem Protection Level (EPL) as well as the free-flowing (62 identified by the NFEPA project) and flagship river information.

The National Wetlands Map III (NWM3) is a combination of NWM2 extracted from the National Land Cover 2000 dataset and the Waterbodies of the 1:50 000 of topomaps from the Chief Directorate Surveys and Mapping (CDSM). These two datasets were further categorized into natural waterbodies, artificial waterbodies, and unclassified waterbodies.

Water treatment works where Blue or Green Drop measurement systems apply Information supplied by DWS; spatialized and corrected (placed) by CSIR BE. Indicates which technologies are used at each site.

Thermal springs (Olivier and Jonker, 2013). A thermal springs xlsx file was obtained for the purpose of guiding wetland mapping for the National Biodiversity Assessment (NBA) 2018 project. These coordinates were converted to points.

Oxbow lakes from the DRDLR:NGI data issued in May 2016 for the purpose of indicating floodplain wetlands. These oxbow lakes are in some instances indicative of the floodplain depressions, however some artificial systems were also mapped as Lakes by DRDLR:NGI. The polygon features called 'Lakes' were extracted and converted to points. The data was used by data capturers to guide them in the typing of hydrogeomorphic units, and can also be used when modelling HGM units. Please see Van Deventer et al. (2018) for more information.

Waterfalls Waterfalls were extracted from the DRDLR:NGI point data and supplemented by Heidi van Deventer from known waterfalls and those indicated by experts across the country.

The most recent dams register of DWS, dated to 2016

NBA 2018 Rivers assessment layer. This data set is part of the first version of the South African Inventory of Inland Aquatic Ecosystems (SAIIAE) 2018 released in July 2018. A second update of the SAIIAE 2018 was issued with the launch of the NBA 2018, and includes the condition, Ecosystem Threat Status (ETS) and Ecosystem Protection Level (EPL) information for the rivers. The river lines data set is associated with the National Wetland Map 5 (NWM5) issued with the SAIIAE version 1 and 2. Dr Lindie Smith-Adao generated this rivers data set by 2018/06/29.

Created from the NLC2000 dataset and the national Wetland Probability Map to create the first National Wetland Map (NWM1) Beta version

The Confidence map was compiled to identify areas where wetland extent and HGM units attained at a higher level of certainty compared to other areas. Higher levels of certainty are associated with areas that have been visited in-field by a wetland specialist(s) over multiple seasons and cycles of the hydroperiod of a wetland, and accurately represented in the dataset. This data set is part of the first version of the South African Inventory of Inland Aquatic Ecosystems (SAIIAE). The confidence map should always be read with the National Wetland Map 5 (NWM5) which was issued with the SAIIAE version 1 was generated on 2018/06/29 by Heidi van Deventer. NWM5 includes inland wetlands and estuaries, but are associated with river line data and many other data sets within the South African Inventory of Inland Aquatic Ecosystems (SAIIAE).