During the 1950s, the Umfolozi Landowners Association contained and artificially channelled the river through the Monzi Flats to develop
sugarcane farms. The new Umfolozi canal resulted in the unfiltered water depositing its silt load after entering the slower moving St. Lucia Estuary. This caused the
estuary mouth to rapidly silt up. There had only been one record of this occurring until that time, during the sustained drought during the 1930s. At the
Black Umfolozi River and the
White Umfolozi River, join to form the Umfolozi.
Characteristics It is a
meandering river, with a catchment area of 11,068 km3. It is 38 metres wide near its mouth, with a slope gradient of 0.36 m/km. The average diameter of the
bed material is 0.35 mm (
sand).
Sediment problems The river transports carries annually 1.4 million tonnes of
suspended sediment to the ocean. ==Aerial photos==