Henley Herald

Independent Verified Community News, Business, Events, Wellness, Gardens, and People in Henley on Klip, South Africa

Help the River

The Klipriver cleanup campaign thus far has mainly focused on removing floating debris and maintaining a clear path for the river to run. But we would be amiss if we did not include the task of addressing the ever-increasing water pollution which stench has become more noticeable by the day. In this regard we have arranged to gather input from a public meeting to be held on 10 October 2023 at 18:30 in the O’Connor hall.
 
As Residents in Henley we live alongside very polluted waters two-thirds downstream from the river source and its exceptionally difficult to establish all the sources of pollution upstream and have such matters addressed to achieve a meaningful difference where the water quality gets back to safe and acceptable levels.
 
Therefore we rely on additional resources and people with skills and experience in dealing with such issues, as the cause and the fix to the pollution lie outside our direct area of influence and control. We hope to be assemble a team of expertise and experience to address the problem at hand in partnership with the Midvaal Local Municipality.
 
Tests conducted during September at the river across middle Oxford road and middle Windsor road indicate the presence of e-Coli, extremely high levels of coliform bacteria and some other organic pollutants. Test results can be made available on request. These tests conducted were initial bacterial tests, and not yet microbiological tests to identify individual bacteria and other polluting elements.
 
Upstream to the village the river passes three Waste-water treatment plants, namely Goudkoppies, Bushkoppies and the Erwat Waterfall treatment facility. We have had reports of some wastewater treatment plants unable to process wastewater sufficiently due to load shedding as well as wastewater spilling onto farmland and into the river from damaged pipework.
 
There may well be additional sources of pollution from agricultural and industrial sites, and whilst we have to start by identifying and working on the biggest polluters, the task of identifying all the sources of pollution and establishing a program that returns all polluters to operate within the parameters of environmental legislation will be a long and arduous task and we need all hands-on Deck.
 
So to return the river to its natural state that flora and fauna can flourish again, and the river be used for recreational activities, we can no longer ignore the signs and rely on external parties to address these problems.
 
Your help is needed and interested parties are asked to contact Karen Pepper on 073 322 5883.

kliprivier-pollution
The Klip River 2022, courtesy Jennie Dallass
kliprivier-pollution-1-2023
The Klip River in 2023, courtesy Karen Pepper
kliprivier-pollution-2023
The Klip River, courtesy Karen Pepper

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *