The State of The Rivers/Oceans/Water/Air

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The State of The Rivers/Oceans/Water

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By Willem Snyman• 29 October 2019

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Cleaning the Clayville tributary before putting up litter trap nets. (Photo: Willem Snyman)

Activists propose a River of Origins corridor. But in the meantime, river cleanup campaigns show how to build communities without borders and create livelihoods from waste collection.

The gigantic quantities of plastic pollution coming down the Hennops River from its wetland fountain sources in Tembisa pollute its 100km length, and beyond, with thousands of tons of plastic. One of our most polluted rivers, there are already three huge plastic and styrofoam islands lower down in the river, one over 100 meters long and so tightly packed that one can walk over it. This waste decays into microplastics, while the styrofoam constantly releases endocrine disrupters.

So polluted are the river’s banks that in the course of Fresh.ngo’s numerous river-side cleanups, an average of 150 rubbish bags full of plastics has been collected over just 50 metres. It is also extremely hard work to extract the plastics from branches and in the soil where it is deposited after every flood.

Activists involved in river cleanups find it very demoralising when the cleaned areas get filled with plastic again after the next flood. After a decade the authorities haven’t made a dent in this problem, and it is getting exponentially worse.

Today there are gigantic heaps of rubbish lying in the source streams, waiting to come down with the first rains. To try to mitigate the problem Fresh.ngo and other citizens group have been reclaiming the rivers.

In October 2019, with a group of amazing river warriors and volunteers from the local community, we set up two beautiful litter traps. Litter traps are like functional artworks that enhance and clean the areas around them. They can also assist to provide a livelihood for the local people, who have been helping to put them up. The new nets will be game-changing and offer a chance to fight back against the overwhelming pollution.

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Lowering and securing to old bolts the huge net which will have to survive massive floods. (Photo: Willem Snyman)

A disused bridge on the Kaalspruit river, just below Tembisa, was chosen for the first net. It is strategically located on the main stream where perhaps 60% of the pollution passes through. This bridge was built on a natural flood plain and was very badly planned. It has been channelling the water through a narrow passage instead of spreading it wide over the whole flood plain. This has caused massive erosion behind it, two storeys deep in places, and is the main cause of the massive siltation downstream, clearly seen in the old Centurion lake.

Placing a litter trap here will help slow down the water and mitigate erosion while catching most of the plastics. It took volunteers three gruelling days in the sun to put the large net up. It is around 30 metres long and 20m high, made up of five smaller pieces of strong netting kindly donated by a local foundation, along with four pairs of waders.

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A group of local kids and adults enthusiastically cleaned some of the clogged up litter and discovered a surfboard. (Photo: Willem Snyman)

Volunteers sewed the pieces of net together with thick bundles of wire, discarded by cable thieves after stripping electric cables. Like a giant puzzle braided together, the thick wire will hopefully give it the strength to withstand the huge power of the water when flooding.

It was a great experience working together and making friends with such a selfless group of volunteers who came to help, at times about a dozen of us, working along with local volunteers who will hopefully be running the project from here on and make a sustainable livelihood by recycling all the trash coming down.

Volunteers also made a leisure space under the bridge and started to draw murals and make shrines. It is a great place to relax next to the stream and we connected with the community, building bridges between our people.

The water in Tembisa, however, is highly polluted and pitch black from all the sewerage spilt into the stream that comes from leaking sewerage mains in the Johannesburg and Ekurhuleni municipalities. Recently it deteriorated rapidly and the stench became unbearable.

This ancient river is being killed. It is now in the worst state it’s ever been; the blackness and huge amount of sludge now poison the river. Putrefactive bacteria have taken over and they must be combated by re-introducing the good indigenous micro-organisms.

The shameful killing of this life force and using it as waste disposal is harming the people upstream now living dangerously right inside the wetlands; they say they cannot wait for the rains to clean their place again.

The health of millions of people and animals downriver is being endangered. Crops are watered with this water and for many, it is the only source of drinking water. These toxins wind their way down the Crocodile and Limpopo Rivers to the sea.

The area we were working in is a beautiful large wetland nature area that belongs to Ekurhuleni municipality, as custodians of the citizens. We found a very large early Stone Age site next to the bridge with a wealth of Stone Age tools, large shaped rocks and levelled areas. Wits and Cradle archaeologists were contacted to do a survey of the site.

It is being destroyed rapidly by illegal sand-mining, while imminent development threatens the important upper wetland of the Hennops.

The massive new Tembisa mall is being built in the flood plain, and an application board suddenly went up to rezone this public open space for Rez 4 housing. This should definitely not be allowed in this sensitive wetland nature area and flood plain.

A heritage park forming the top part of the Hennops River of Origin nature corridor would be a much more sensible use and create a nature reserve area of incalculable value.

A few hundred metres away, the smaller Clayville tributary also flows into this wetland to join the Kaalspruit. Although coming through an industrial area, the water quality here is much cleaner, even though it is filled with trash. Our four volunteers first removed a pile of old insulation boards and a bloated dead dog in a pool where the local kids still swim.

We found a slow-flowing natural litter trap area and pulled out about 20 rubbish bags full of entwined trash from the pool and cleaned floating trash for about 100 metres further up. Once the rotting layer of rubbish was removed and the flow established, the water quality started to improve and the stream came alive again. Some more old nets were donated.

These two traps should hold back the avalanche of rubbish from Tembisa if they can be serviced and cleaned often. But if they become clogged with rubbish the water force might become too big and pull them along.

These are the idyllic places of our ancestors, completely forgotten and polluted by us, their callous descendants.

We spent a golden day here, with the local kids helping to pick up rubbish and some local volunteers helping us; we worked till early evening to get everything done and then sat around a fire. A place one would expect to be dangerous felt so peaceful, a natural and dark area amid a sea of lights. It felt like a privilege to be working so close to the water and in nature.

This kind of work is best done for free, giving back to our natural world, which freely gives us so much abundance. We see it as a movement of the people to restore the natural world that has been stolen from us by industry. Rivers have been turned into polluted no man’s lands where no one dares to venture any more, our ancestral world alienated from us by the massive pollution – we must stand firm and fight for our heritage and our humanity.

The envisaged Rivers of Origin corridor can be the beginning of a new connection with the beautiful and bountiful world of nature, the clear fountain waters that gave life to the first of our kind over the millions of years of our early evolution in our Cradle. A natural corridor through our urban world would act as an antidote to the sickness and shallowness of our modern world – a place to find our roots again and relearn our true values and our interconnectedness within the nature that nurtured our species.

Once clean and protected, these corridors can become attractions of worldwide significance, a place of pilgrimage for our species to experience and honour our shared birthplace.

These timeless fountain-rivers of the Witwatersrand, now so highly polluted and forgotten, can still restore our planet; by cleaning and reviving them we can heal the heart of Humankind. MC

Willem Snyman is with Fresh.ngo, a nonprofit organisation that aims to clean up South Africa’s rivers, dams and waterways.

https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article ... ing-rains/


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Re: Clean Rivers: The litter traps and solid waste pollution of the Rivers – a race against the coming rains

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The painstaking task of keeping NMB’s Swartkops River clean

By Estelle Ellis• 12 November 2019

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Marie Tiervry, Dolly Mitchell and Berenice Komoete with some of the bags of rubbish they collected on Monday 11 November 2019. (Photo: M

Twenty years ago their home at AJ van Coller on the banks of the Swartkops River in Nelson Mandela Bay was destroyed when the community was moved to make space for a hazardous dumpsite. But in 2017 they returned to fight for the health of their river – and two years later they have removed 38,000 bags of rubbish from the river banks and surroundings.

In the Nelson Mandela Bay neighbourhood of Wells Estate everyone knows that if Dolly Mitchell is close, you do not drop a piece of plastic on the ground.

“We tell them straight,” she says. “Who do they think must pick it up?”

For the past two years, Mitchell, Marie Tiervry and Berenice Koemoete have been part of a team of five who have picked up 38,000 bags of plastic waste from the banks of their beloved Swartkops River as part of a project run by the Zwartkops Trust.

They receive a stipend for their work from Spar Eastern Cape.

“Marie told me what she was doing and I said yes, I will come help. I didn’t have a job at the time,” Mitchell said.

“It is very dirty around here,” she explains with a wave of her hand. Despite the howling wind, they are picking up plastic around the train tracks running close to the river.

“The wind will blow all this rubbish into the water,” she said. “We see a lot of plastic, bottles, foam trays, nappies. We pick it up. It is not a nice job to do, but it must be done.

“But if I stand here and look, it makes my heart happy because it is clean.” She points to the field on the sides of the train tracks where they are working on Monday:

“It was very bad here this morning. The place was full of litter. It isn’t something that is nice to see.

“The municipality have come to fetch bags already today and we have some more here for them. It makes me happy to see how clean the river is. We want the tourists to see a nice, clean place.

“We are piemping (telling on) those who litter. I am very strict. Look at this place, it is clean now. Watch now, in two days’ time it will be full of rubbish again. People come here to dump their rubbish.

“You find some terrible things when you clean up these pieces of land. Let me tell you, there are a lot of snakes here. I will never be friends with a snake. We have found three dead bodies already. If I see a dead person we phone immediately. We pick up the dead dogs too.

“If I can get one thing it will be for an end to the use of plastic bags. Here where it is so windy you will find the trees full of plastic bags, then we have to climb to the high branches to get the plastic off.”

Marie Tiervry, 56, said the project started when they met a man on a boat while fishing for food.

“We were busy fishing one day. I wasn’t working. A man on a boat came to us at the river and asked if we don’t want to help him clean the river banks. I said: ‘Sir, I will come help you.’

“In the beginning, it was heavy on the back to bend like that all the time, but we have gotten used to it now. Every one of us tries to fill 25 bags every day.”

Tiervry said some days they run out of rubbish to pick up.

“But we search for it, every little bit of plastic. You can always find more if you are looking. I like filling all my bags every day that we work.”

Berenice Komoete, 38, said she likes to work at the riverside every day.

“I like the breeze and I like looking at the river. I love my job. I am not looking for another job.

“We pick up a lot of plastic 2-litre bottles and the bottle tops and the lollipop sticks – you won’t believe how many we pick up every day. Now that we have learned that plastic in the water can cause all sorts of illnesses, so we want to make it safe for all of us,” she said.

Zwartkops Conservancy conservation officer Dale Clayton said while the project has been running for longer he started keeping score two years ago.

“We have just passed the 38,000 mark,” he said. “We are averaging 69 bags a day with four or five people working.”

He said they were grateful for the financial support from Spar Eastern Cape.

“The ladies are briefed to pick up plastic and rubber – anything that doesn’t degrade. We can see a very big difference in the river already.

“Let me tell you, it is not an easy job. Anybody who has tried to open a plastic garbage bag in strong winds will know it is almost impossible to do.

“We only stop on days that the wind blows more than 40 km/hour because then you can’t put the rubbish in the bag.

“The Zwartkops Estuary is very important for the ecology of the area. It is tidal for 14km. Whatever plastic comes down the Motherwell Canal comes into the river and when the tide goes out it goes into the sea. Fish, turtles, dolphins all eat it.

“The most important thing is that the little fish in the estuary eat the broken-up pieces of plastic. That is a real killer. The fish think they are full but meantime they are starving and dying. We are talking about a lot of fish. It also gets into the meat and it is not good if someone catches that to eat,” he said.

“We like to catch the plastic at its source, so when it has rained more than 50mm we run to the Motherwell Canal. The last time this happened we collected 932 bags of plastic rubbish in two weeks.

“We have a very good relationship with the municipality. They collect the bags for us. They know us so well by now they come to collect without us even asking.

“We also clean for up to a kilometre away from the river because the rubbish blows into the river. We check all the outlets as much as we can.

“We are engaging with the municipality, provincial and national departments to try and convince them that we must change from a throw-away society to a recycle-society. We want to start with those people who live near the Motherwell Canal.

“Sadly, it is more convenient for them to throw the rubbish in the canal rather than to push it to where the trucks come to collect. Most of the people we ask have no idea where the canal goes to. It is also a problem if the municipality doesn’t collect for two weeks. Then they just throw everything into the canal. But I don’t blame them. What else must they do?” he asked.


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Re: Clean Rivers: The litter traps and solid waste pollution of the Rivers

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Calls for tighter regulations as harmful algae threatens ecological disaster for Swartkops estuary

By Estelle Ellis• 3 June 2020

The Swartkops River in Nelson Mandela Bay has turned black due to a harmful algae bloom. Now, conservationists fear this could spell disaster for a river and estuary that are already under threat from pollution. Scientists say while nothing can be done to remedy the situation at the moment, the government should lower the amount of treated sewage which municipalities are allowed to discharge into rivers.

A harmful algae turned one of the main rivers in Nelson Mandela Bay red and then black, as conservationists blame high levels of sewage and warn that the public should not eat fish from the river.

“It is a disaster. We initially hoped that the Swartkops River would be spared,” said Daniel Lemley, an expert in the ecology of estuaries. Lemley was part of the team that identified the harmful algae bloom on the river in March this year as Heterosigma akashiwo.

There is an ongoing campaign to have the Swartkops estuary, as part of the Zwartkops Conservancy, declared a protected wetland in terms of the Ramsar Convention. It is home to the mud prawn that provides food to 90% of 200 bird species in the estuary, and is also a source of food to a large number of fish species that feed on the intertidal mud banks.

The estuary has been designated an “important birdlife and biodiversity area” by BirdLife International, and is considered a globally important bird area as 18 endangered species on the South African Red Data list are found in the area. It is also the third-largest salt marsh area in South Africa.

Lemley did his doctorate studying similar harmful algae blooms in the Sundays River estuary on the outskirts of Colchester. “We hoped that the high levels of phosphorus in the Swartkops River would stop it from growing. It seems to have adapted to it. Our river wasn’t the healthiest to start off with. The estuary is very important for fish and for biodiversity and birdlife,” he said.

“I have never seen anything like this before,” said Jenny Rump, former conservation officer of the Zwartkops Conservancy. She has been involved in conservation of the river for decades.

“We are back on the river today to see how far it has spread. It is now right throughout the river. It is really terrible. The worst thing is there are no fish. I have never seen anything like this,” she said.

“We are looking for dead fish, but this is almost worse. There are no fish. There are no birds.”

Lemley said this type of algae was first identified in 2015. “They are difficult to identify. We don’t really know where it came from and its origin is difficult to prove. It was first identified in Japan. So our best guess is that it came to us by ship water.

“It is a type of phytoplankton. They are like tiny plants. They use the nutrients in the water as food. There is a lot more nitrogen and phosphorus in our estuaries,” he said.

“My research showed there was a bloom in the Sundays River in the late 1980s. We first saw a very big bloom of this algae in February and March in the Swartkops River,” he said.

“I think the main reason is that there are three sewage treatment plants along this river. They discharge treated sewage into the river. They are following the guidelines, but the amount of nitrogen allowed, according to guidelines, is still way too high,” he said. “So technically the municipal officials are doing their job most of the time and they are complying, but it is still harmful,” said Lemley

“We must find more innovative ways of reducing the amount of nitrogen in the water. This river has consistently high levels of it every day.”

He said the algae blooms recently noted in the Sundays River are caused by agricultural run-off from fertiliser and not from sewage.

Professor Nadine Strydom from the Department of Zoology at the Nelson Mandela University said eating fish from the two estuaries should be avoided while these blooms were evident.

He added that where this specific algae occurs in high concentrations, like the Swartkops River, it releases a mucilage that remains on the water. “The species itself is not toxic, but it produces a thick mucilage that can clog the gills of fish. It will have a smothering effect and will be dangerous to larval fish and zooplankton.”

Lemley said algae bloom increased the levels of oxygen in the water by up to 300% and this would also have a negative impact on fish. “When the bloom starts dying, the oxygen levels will drop way down,” he said.

Lemley added that there was nothing that could be done to stop the spread of the bloom. “The only strategy is to reduce the amount of nutrients in the river over the long term.”

“There will be an impact on the natural functioning of the estuary. The fish that can swim will leave. A lot of the smaller marine animals that are not mobile, and anything that lives in the sediment, might die. This will last about three weeks and it will come back if conditions are favourable,” he said. He said they were how the bloom might affect people.

“I wouldn’t jump in and swim in the river,” he said.

Professor Nadine Strydom from the Department of Zoology at the Nelson Mandela University said eating fish from the two estuaries should be avoided while these blooms were evident.

“We don’t know enough about their toxicity – as they are toxic – and we don’t want to run experiments with human health to find out,” she added.

Jenny Rump said they realised something was amiss when they noticed the river turning a reddish colour.

“Earlier this year there were particularly heavy flows of sewage into the river. The recent rains may have caused these algal blooms to move down towards the middle reaches. Once blooms start in an estuary, it is difficult to eradicate them without drastic changes to the quality of discharged wastewater,” she said.

By Tuesday, the water had turned black.

“Lessons currently being learned by Professor Strydom and her team in the Sundays estuary, where similar harmful blooms are affecting the ecosystem, show that oxygen can rise to supersaturation during bloom events, where oxygen is so highly concentrated it becomes toxic and affects the young of the round herring, which is an important food species in South African estuaries.

“Then, when the bloom runs out of nutrients, it decays and dies, using up all the oxygen and making the estuary water inhospitable for fish and their prey. This sends the entire ecosystem into a rollercoaster of boom-bust algal blooms and the entire system suffers during the black water decay phases, as is now happening in the Swartkops estuary,” Rump said.

“The Zwartkops Conservancy regards this situation as a total disaster for the estuary and will take whatever action is necessary to get the authorities to remedy it.”


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Re: Clean Rivers: The litter traps and solid waste pollution of the Rivers

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Re: Clean Rivers: The litter traps and solid waste pollution of the Rivers

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GROUNDUP

Environmentalists are raising concern over Durban’s polluted Umbilo River

By Nokulunga Majola for GroundUp• 12 October 2020

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Greenpeace Africa and local organisations are calling for the restoration of the Umbilo River in Durban. (Photo: Sandra Streak)

Concerned citizens are calling on the eThekwini municipality to do something about pollution in the Umbilo River. High levels of E. coli have been detected, but that might not be the worst of it. Concerns over the health of the river have been voiced for over a decade.

First published by GroundUp.

Environmental activists from the Umbilo River Community are calling on the eThekwini municipality to take urgent action to improve the water quality of the Umbilo River. They say recent tests have shown very high amounts of E. coli bacteria, some strains of which can be harmful to people relying on the river. The group is appealing to the community to stay out of the water.

For the past 12 years, residents and environmental groups have been complaining about the foul smell, foamy waters and unusual colour of the river. The area of concern includes a listed natural heritage site of 20 hectares of mangrove forest and coastal grassland within the industrial area of Durban harbour.

The river and its tributaries flow through several communities and informal settlements.

One of Greenpeace Africa’s Durban activists, Delwyn Pillay, said the pollution, which he says has been left unchecked for years, has killed marine life and produced an overwhelming stench. He said residents want the river to be cleaned and those contaminating it held accountable.

Greenpeace gathered 4,500 signatures for its petition about the river. Demands include: monthly water sampling at multiple locations to determine exactly which industries are responsible for the pollution and contamination; comprehensive testing for all types of industrial effluents and sewage waste; management reports to be made public; the reviving of the “Blue Scorpions”; and monitor compliance with the water-use licences.

Co-ordinator for the South Durban community environmental alliance (SDCEA) Desmond D’sa, said most of the polluting industries that feed into the Umbilo River are upstream in New Germany and Pinetown.

He said all eThekwini municipal sewerage works should have a maintenance plan and a set budget to ensure there is constant maintenance. There should also be monitors placed along strategic points of the river to ensure no illegal dumping takes place.

He said unscrupulous hired tanker operators, who are supposed to ferry the chemicals to a hazardous landfill site or recycling depot, dump chemicals illegally in the river. “We should also have all certificates of how the waste is conveyed to landfills or sewerage works,” said D’sa.

“All the above will resurrect the river… By investing in the river catchment areas we protect everyone,” he said.

Ward 18 councillor Melanie Brauteseth agreed that the state of the Umbilo River was of great concern. “A solution needs to be found and implemented.” She said the wastewater treatment plant “has not been fully operational due to bad planning and a lack of maintenance”.

“The responsibility for this state of affairs rests at the door of the eThekwini water department. I call on this department to treat this situation as urgent for them to escalate the issues to the national department of water and sanitation,” said Brauteseth.

Municipal spokesperson Msawakhe Mayisela said the City is aware of the issue and in the process of addressing the matter. “We also noted the high E. coli counts at the Umbilo treatment works. The tracing team found a pump station that was overflowing in the Paradise Valley area.” He said this was due to sand in the pumps, but it has since been repaired.

A source told GroundUp that malfunction at the sewage pump station was likely responsible for the high E. coli readings. In high concentrations it could also cause the water to go anaerobic and cause algae blooms further downstream.

E. coli is a proxy for pollution from human waste, and it may not even be the most dangerous pathogen released into the river, the source explained.

He said that textile and metal industries in Pinetown have for 30 years discharged excessive pollutants which the Umbilo wastewater treatment works are unable to treat properly.

This is the cause of the discolouration, foaming and bad odours. Depending on the type and quantity of chemicals, it is also killing off flora and fauna in areas bordering the river. DM


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Re: Clean Rivers: The litter traps and solid waste pollution of the Rivers

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Swimming against the Vaal’s rising tide of sewage: Standerton snafus stir up action

By Laura du Toit for Roving Reporters• 22 March 2021

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The Swim for Rivers team after the first day of their Vaal River swim. (Photo: Supplied)

An intrepid band of activist-athletes are drawing attention to a pressing pollution problem, with their latest target the Vaal River that flows through the Mpumalanga town of Standerton.

A swim in the Vaal, South Africa’s third-biggest river and in places, one of its yuckiest, is not to be done on a whim.

For one thing, it can be a little whiffy.

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The swimmers tackle the Vaal River. (Photo: Supplied)

“There was a bit of a dead carcass smell in the area,” says Andrew Chin, who on a recent late summer’s weekend put on his Speedo and plunged into the river, a little above the Mpumalanga town of Standerton.

With three teammates, he completed two stretches of the Vaal, swimming a total of 14.5km over two days. The swim was the culmination of a year’s planning, backed by plenty of experience.

Chin, 52, has been kicking about in water for a long time: “We used to swim in the rivers when I was a kid, 40 years ago. Now that basic right has been taken away from us,” he says.

Bigger problem

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Safety buoys bo as the Swim for River team tackles the Vaal. (Photo: Supplied)

The official findings bear this out.

According to the Department of Water and Sanitation’s State of Rivers Report, rivers are in poor condition in densely populated parts of the country. It’s the consequence of poor management and maintenance of wastewater treatment works.

“Waste discharge poses major risks for aquatic and human health and is one of the largest contributors to the deterioration of water resources,” the report noted.

Chin, a tall, determined Capetonian, feels so strongly about the problem and the need to preserve and protect our waterways that in 2015 he started the not-for-profit, Swim for Rivers. With support from volunteers and back-up from Impact Adventure, they set out to tackle a section of a river in a different province every year, and to use the swims to grab public attention and galvanise action.

This, pretty much, has played out. And Chin and others have completed swims in the Wilge, Orange and Mtamvuna rivers. So why the Vaal and why at Standerton?

Water under the bridge

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The community in Standerton is an active one, with many helping to keep the town clean. (Photo: Supplied)

As Chin explains it, about 19-million people depend on the Vaal for their domestic, commercial and industrial needs, particularly in Gauteng. Yet according to the South African Human Rights Commission, the Vaal is polluted beyond acceptable standards.

Standerton was established at a drift on the Vaal before the First Boer War and was once the constituency of Prime Minister Jan Smuts. The town is today the seat of the Lekwa Local Municipality, which has drawn strong criticism from residents and media exposure for its failure to get to grips with basic maintenance and service delivery.

Many of its streets are potholed, with raw sewage running into the Vaal.

Team effort

So on Friday, 5 March 2021, Chin, East Londoners Joy Roach and Mandy Uys (who have now completed three and five Swim for Rivers respectively) and newcomer, Cape Town journalist Craig Bishop, took to the waters.

On day one, the team completed 9.5km from the confluence of the Blesbokspruit with the Vaal to the entrance of the Grootdraai Dam.

They were pleasantly surprised to see relatively little litter. However, Chin was careful to point out that this did not mean the problem had gone away, but that it may have merely floated downstream.

On the following day’s swim, from below the dam to the outskirts of Standerton, “there were signs that the river had recently come down, because there was quite a bit of plastic decorating the trees”.

The swimmers picked up the smell of what may have been a carcass below the dam, but Chin noted this did not necessarily mean it was in the water.

Warning

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Sunday’s river clean-up yielded 90 bags of rubbish in just one hour. (Photo: Supplied)

They had been warned not to press on to Riverpark. The former beauty spot, close to the town centre, was once popular with families, picnickers and fishermen. Now, however, locals say it’s a “danger zone”, with garbage everywhere and the stench of raw sewage emptying into the river. Instead, the swimmers got out at Waterfront, on the outskirts of Standerton.

The following day, Sunday, the four led a river clean-up, with 11 volunteers pitching in to help. They included members of the Lewka Clean Up Crew, a local organisation that is sponsored by a small group of businesses to pick up garbage, occasionally fix potholes and cut grass at intersections.

In an hour, the group filled 90 bags of rubbish, yet according to Chin, “barely scraped the surface of pollution along the river”.

Community battle

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A team of willing locals lent their hands to the clean-up effort, including members of the Lewka Clean Up Crew, a local organisation that is sponsored by a small group of businesses to pick up garbage, occasionally fix potholes and cut grass at intersections. (Photo: Supplied)

Wilma Venter, 35, a Standerton resident and community activist, was among them. She has fought a more than two-year battle with the municipality over the state of the town.

Last year, she started Surviving Lekwa, one of a number of community-led initiatives and WhatsApp groups in Standerton tackling pollution and problems with water, electricity, refuse removal and municipal account errors.

“We assist with whatever we can. We clean dumping sites and fix whatever we can. We ensure the community knows of any municipal information that they need, and we report and follow up on their issues. And when they have account problems, I go in on their behalf to have this solved,” says Venter.

She believes the wider public are ignorant of the state of the Vaal, particularly at Standerton.

“I don’t think the majority of people even slightly realise how much pollution goes into the Vaal River,” Venter says. “The Bergenheim manhole (in central Standerton) has been blocked for so long that it’s created a knee-deep stream of sewage that flows to the Vaal, which is visible from Google Earth.”

The legal route

It has got so bad that more than two years ago, the North Gauteng High Court ordered the Lekwa municipality to “cease all raw sewer waste spillage into the Vaal River”; to immediately unblock all manholes in Standerton’s Rooikoppen Extension township; and to cease spilling sewage into the township’s streets.

The order, which was sought by the Minister of Water and Sanitation and made final in October 2018, also required the municipality to repair the town’s wastewater treatment works and five sewerage pump stations.

Venter said the municipality initially made an effort to comply and did some repairs, but within about two months, the problems were back and there have been further breakdowns.

“It’s worse and now it’s all over, not just in Rooikoppen. It’s everywhere… shit in the streets,” says Venter.

Officials from the Department of Water and Sanitation made a number of site visits in 2020 and drafted reports, says Venter, but nothing has come of it. Roving Reporters sent Lekwa mayor Lindokuhle Dhlamini and Municipal Manager Gugulethu Mhlongo-Ntshangase a list of questions, asking what action was being taken to stem the leaks and tackle water pollution, but no response was received.

Residents are now in the process of seeking a court order of their own, compelling the municipality to fix the problem.

Urgent action

Marweshe Attorneys confirmed they had collected 104 witness statements and are representing residents, including children, elderly and sickly people.

They sent a letter to the municipality demanding it provide an undertaking and a plan to fix the spills. But their 12 March deadline passed without a response and the firm is now finalising an urgent high court application seeking relief.

Later, they will seek compensation for residents whose health had been harmed, property damaged, businesses affected, and human rights violated, says Tony Mathe, a lawyer who is assisting Marweshe Attorneys.

Among the victims they are representing pro bono is an eight-year-old girl who fell into an open manhole in February. The manhole, in a residential area in Schwichardt Street close to the centre of the town, has been overflowing with sewage for the past two years.

The child’s father and uncle were close by at the time and came to her rescue. After that incident, residents dragged a concrete block over the hole to prevent others from falling in. Venter alerted the municipality and the Department of Water and Sanitation about the incident and the overflowing manhole, but says nothing has been done.

The department was asked to comment, but a response had not been received at time of publication.

Fish eagles

This is not to say that things are beyond hope.

Despite the Vaal’s reputation, the swimmers enjoyed themselves.

“The river life was quite spectacular. There were a lot of fish eagles and kingfishers,” says Chin, who was buoyed by the efforts and generosity of some locals.

Based on his river swims over the past six years, Chin said he felt that South Africans were often happy to make cash contributions to worthy causes but not as eager to tackle problems themselves.

He said there was a “general apathy among people”, calling for efforts to encourage behaviour change and for the creation of a “different kind of ethos”.

“The Standerton community is not alone. They’re one of many small communities having this problem,” says Chin.

“They say that the Vaal is damaged beyond repair… I’m not a water scientist, but I know that rivers can repair themselves. People just need to start taking action.” DM

Laura du Toit is a Rhodes University journalism student enrolled on Roving Reporters’ environmental journalism training programme.


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Re: Clean Rivers: The litter traps and solid waste pollution of the Rivers

Post by Lisbeth »

When will the education of the local communities, including the municipalities, be on the cards? 0*\ We are not living in caves anymore and water is one of the most precious things in our lives.

Don't they have civic education at the schools? O/


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Re: Clean Rivers: The litter traps and solid waste pollution of the Rivers

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The municipalities are dysfunctional due to corruption and cadre deployment, Lis. Hats off to the volunteers who try and undo the devil's work. But communities are also disgusting with their wanton littering...I have watched it happen countless times! :evil:


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Re: Clean Rivers: The litter traps and solid waste pollution of the Rivers

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It's disgusting 0= It's the same in India 0*\


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The State of The Rivers

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GROUNDUP

Report shows spiralling toxic pollution levels turning Cape Town’s waterways into no-go areas

By Steve Kretzmann• 9 April 2021

Image
Sailing on Zandvlei despite high pollution levels. (Photo: Steve Kretzmann)

The quality of inland and coastal water bodies has notably declined over the past years, leading to the destruction of precious ecosystems and threatening human health.

A new report reveals that water pollution across Cape Town’s rivers, vleis and estuaries has been getting steadily worse for 40 years, except for a few years.

The 88-page Inland Water Quality Report summary, released on 9 February, shows worsening pollution except for a slight improvement between 2010 and 2015. In a footnote on page 22, the City warns that the rivers, vleis, and estuaries are so polluted that swimming is not recommended.

The coastal water quality report was released a year ago and revealed widespread pollution of the marine environment. But this is the first inland water quality data made publicly available since the 2016 results contained in the 2018 State of the Environment Report. The latest data from 242 testing sites shows that many of our rivers, vleis, and estuaries have over time become so polluted that swimming or wading is not advised.

The environment – a major attraction for residents and tourists – is also affected. The report notes that “some aquatic ecosystems support plant and/or animal species that occur only in a restricted area in certain watercourse types in parts of town, and nowhere else in the world”. “Sadly, however, many of these ecosystems are highly threatened.”

Image
A graph from the report shows worsening E. coli levels over a 30 year period in Cape Town’s rivers. (Graph: Supplied by GroundUp)

What is being measured

The report focuses on two indicators of pollution: E. coli levels and phosphate levels.

E. coli is a bacteria found in human faeces (and that of other mammals) and is an indicator of other disease-causing microorganisms or pathogens. E. coli is measured as colony forming units (cfu) per 100ml. The City considers 2,500cfu per 100ml or less to be acceptable for recreation such as canoeing, fishing, or sailing. The amount of E. coli allowed to be released into the environment by sewage treatment works is 1,000cfu per 100ml.

The phosphate levels indicate nutrient levels in the water. While aquatic plants require some nutrients, an oversupply of nutrients such as phosphorus and nitrogen leads to blooms of blue-green algae which release microcystin toxins, which can make people sick.

“Depending on the level of exposure, cyanobacterial blooms and their cyanotoxins can cause a wide range of symptoms in humans,” states the report. These range from headaches to stomach cramps and vomiting.

The rapid algal growth from high nutrient levels also leads to plant matter dying and decomposing, which removes oxygen from the water and can cause fish die-offs. Fish die-offs occasionally occur in water bodies such as Zandvlei.

Image
This graph from the report shows worsening phosphate levels at rivers and vleis over the past 40 years. (Graph: Supplied by GroundUp)

The state of the rivers

The report reveals that many of Cape Town’s rivers are highly polluted with E. coli, while most of our vleis and estuaries contain unacceptably high levels of phosphates.

Just over half of samples over the latest five-year period (2015 – 2020) show levels of E. coli which the City deems to be acceptable levels of E. coli, but the report does not say where these samples are taken, so there is no way of determining from the report whether there are stretches of river within the city boundaries that are likely to be acceptable for recreational activities.

Focusing on specific river catchments, the report shows that tests within the Salt River catchment, of which the Black River forms part, returned unacceptable levels of E. coli almost 80% of the time over the last five year period.

Other highly polluted rivers of concern highlighted in the report are the Big and Little Lotus Rivers which flow into Zeekoevlei, the Eerste and Kuils River catchment which flows into False Bay at Macassar, the Sir Lowry’s Pass River and Soet system, and the Hout Bay River.

60% of all rivers also have unacceptably high nutrient levels.

Image
The recreational areas at Zandvlei are often packed with visitors on weekends and public holidays. Residents, concerned about pollution from frequent sewage spills have started a petition to “save” the vlei. (Photo: Steve Kretzmann)

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Phosphorous levels at Westlake and Zandvlei. The report states: “Phosphorus enrichment: Over time, a gradually increasing proportion of samples from rivers in the Sand catchment have been in poor and unacceptable ranges for phosphate concentration. A number of vleis in the catchment are similarly affected by gradually increasing phosphorus enrichment, which tends to encourage aquatic plant and algal growth.” (Graph: Supplied by GroundUp)

The state of the vleis and estuaries

Cape Town’s vleis and estuaries are popular for recreation. But most of our vleis and estuaries are hypertrophic, which means they are prone to toxic blooms of blue-green algae.

This is especially true of the most popular vleis and estuaries: Rietvlei in Milnerton, Zandvlei in Muizenberg, and Zeekoevlei adjacent to Grassy Park. These are also all the sites of sailing or rowing clubs.

The vleis do not seem to normally have high levels of E. coli – though Mayco member for spacial planning and environment Marian Nieuwoudt confirmed that Zandvlei, for instance, was closed or partially closed for a total of 42 days in 2019 due to sewage spills flowing into the vlei. (E. coli is killed by sunlight shining on these relatively stationary bodies of water.)

“Of the five main recreational vleis/water bodies, most have generally been in a condition conducive to intermediate-contact recreation over the past five years,” states the report. “However, Milnerton Lagoon has been subject to periodic and, at times, prolonged E. coli contamination, which suggests exposure to untreated sewage.” The lagoon, which is an estuary formed by the Diep River before it flows into the ocean, has become so polluted the Green Scorpions have ordered the City to clean it up.

But the phosphate levels are of concern. The report reveals that over 90% of all water quality tests in Rietvlei over the 2015 to 2020 period showed unacceptable phosphate levels. For Zandvlei and Westlake wetland, phosphate levels were unacceptable in 70% of all tests over the same period, and the Edith Stephens detention pond, Rondevlei and Zeekoevlei showed unacceptable levels of phosphates in over 95% of all tests over the 2015 to 2020 period.

The increasing nutrient levels over the last 30 years resulted in a toxic algal bloom in Rietvlei in November 2019, causing the City to close it for a week. Before that, Nieuwoudt confirmed, Rietvlei was also closed from March to June 2017 due to an algal bloom.

Causes of pollution

“One of the most profound impacts on water quality in Cape Town, as in many other cities, is that of waste. Treated and untreated sewage has a particularly harmful effect on our watercourses,” states the report.

Data from the national Department of Water and Sanitation’s Integrated Regulatory Information System (IRIS) dashboard, reveals Cape Town’s wastewater treatment works fail to consistently purify wastewater to minimum standards.

The Athlone wastewater treatment works, which released effluent into the Black River, achieved the minimum standard for microbiological compliance (levels of E. coli in the treated water) less than 27% of the time in 2020. Similarly, the Mitchell’s Plain wastewater treatment works achieved a microbiological compliance score of just over 29% for the effluent it released into the environment during 2020.

Other factors contributing to water pollution are informal settlements, particularly those on land unsuitable for housing where the City is unable to provide basic services. This results in residents disposing of their greywater and sewage directly into the environment.

Sewer leaks and overflows are another pollution source. Xanthea Limberg, the Mayco member responsible for water, has previously stated these number up to 400 per day across the metro, resulting in sewage flowing into the environment.

The report states that 76% of these sewer spills and overflows are caused by the illegal dumping of foreign objects and fats into the sewer system, causing blockages. The remaining 24% of cases are due to the condition of the sewage infrastructure.

Further causes mentioned in the report are: overflows from sewage pump stations when these break down or, in some cases, when load shedding occurs; illegal residential or industrial connections into the stormwater system; and illegal dumping.

The report also raises concern about water bodies that are not tested: “It is of some concern that there are areas in Cape Town where residents (including children) use rivers, vleis and other wetlands other than those considered in this report, for informal playing, swimming, paddling and possibly even washing, cooking and water drinking, without knowing whether the water is fit for use. Some of these waterbodies are highly contaminated. This issue can only be addressed by improving the condition of the catchments draining into these systems, through the provision of basic sanitation and servicing.”

Image
The water flowing out of the Diep River catchment, which forms the Milnerton Lagoon, has become so polluted that the Green Scorpions have ordered the City of Cape Town to institute a clean-up plan or face criminal litigation. (Photo: Steve Kretzmann)

What the City is doing

The City’s response, as stated in the report, is to rehabilitate and restore Cape Town’s water bodies in line with the City’s commitment to be a water-sensitive city by 2040. Accordingly, it has established the Water Quality Improvement Programme which aims to improve “ambient water quality”.

Examples of actions to be taken are:
  • capital improvements at wastewater treatment works;
  • repairs and maintenance of sewage pump stations;
  • informal settlements servicing;
  • litter-boom project partnerships;
  • engagement with catchment forums and other interest groups;
  • water quality reporting;
  • by-law enforcing blitzes; and
  • awareness campaigns such as “Bin It, Don’t Block It”.
Responding to questions on the City’s water and waste capital expenditure budget, Councillor Limberg said R225-million had been budgeted in the 2020-21 financial year for upgrades to pump stations and wastewater treatment plants. This is close to double the actual expenditure of R125-million during the 2019-2020 financial year.

An additional R7-million for stormwater system upgrades had been budgeted, down from R19-million the previous year. DM


"Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world." Nelson Mandela
The desire for equality must never exceed the demands of knowledge
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