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The Kowie estuary
(33°36' S;
26°54' E)
is located at the coastal town of Port Alfred in the Eastern Cape. The river is approximately 94 km long with a catchment area of 800 sq. km. Agriculture accounted for 12% of the catchment land-cover in the Kowie system. This consisted mainly of temporary and permanent commercial dryland agriculture, temporary commercial irrigated agriculture, commercial forestry, improved grasslands, and subsistence farming. Very little of the Kowie catchment was degraded (less than 1%) and this comprised degraded grassland. Approximately 85% of the catchment land-cover was natural and mostly comprised bushland and grassland. About 3% of the catchment was urban, mainly residential and commercial and industrial development associated with the coastal town of Port Alfred, the inland town of Bathurst, and the city of Grahamstown in the upper catchment.
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