Wet wet wet
World Wetlands Day is today, 2 February. You can fi nd a wetland at the coast (lagoons and mangrove swamps) or inland (connected to a lake or river system) or an entire swamp (like the incredible Okavango Swamps in Botswana).
Wet wet wet
World Wetlands Day is today, 2 February. You can fi nd a wetland at the coast (lagoons and mangrove swamps) or inland (connected to a lake or river system) or an entire swamp (like the incredible Okavango Swamps in Botswana).
What is so special about them? Wetlands have all sorts of economic benefi ts linked to industries such as fi shing, agriculture (think of rice, a common wetland plant in Asia and parts of Africa), plant and animal biodiversity, transport, recreation and tourism opportunities.
Most important of all, wetlands serve as an important water storage and purifi cation system. By allowing water to seep slowly into the ground they renew groundwater – which supplies our rivers. Find out more at: http://wetlands.sanbi.org/ and http://www.ramsar.org/.
Dry dry dry
Grahamstown’s supply dams are terrifyingly low. The level of Howison’s Poort Dam is 30% and worse still is Settler’s Dam at 6.5%. The worst drought in 130 years is a sobering way to begin the year.
Recent rainfall has done little to change the dam levels. We need at least another month of good rains. And we need to consider: what are we doing to conserve our precious water supplies?
How can we be sure that it will still come out of our taps at the end of 2010? It’s hard to believe that many residents are still watering lawns and washing cars with municipal water during this dire water shortage. Isn’t it time to enforce water restrictions?
We hope this year will bring a new culture of environmental responsibility in Makana. We are pleased to see that our indomitable Municipal Manager, Ntombi Baart, has been cracking the whip again.
The Kowie Catchment Campaign received an offi cial communication from Thandy Matebese with the assurance that:
• Supply dam levels will be published in Grocott’s Mail on a fortnightly basis.
• Drinking water quality test results (from Nelson Mandela Metro) will be published in Grocott’s Mail on a monthly basis, and in every edition of Makana Enviro-News.
• Both will also be made public via the Municipality’s redesigned website, to be launched on 1 March.
So, dear readers, watch this space, we are committed to publishing this information. And let’s help Makana Municipality by doing the right thing… use water sparingly!
Who’s in the poo?
A local Kowie Catchment Campaign champion, Quintus Hahndiek, has taken up the matter of chronic sewage leaks in Grahamstown. After reading Grocott’s Mail a few weeks ago, and having been involved in the investigation into Port Alfred’s sewage spills, he decided enough is enough.
Makana Municipality has been issued with a compliance notice under section 28 of Nema (this section deals with “duty of care and remediation of environmental damage”).
Numerous illegal dumpsites around Grahamstown are also being addressed in this notice. Jan Kapp of the Eastern Cape Department of Economic Development and Environmental Affairs (DEDEA) regional offi ces in PE, who served the notice on 27 January, said the municipality has been given two weeks in which to respond to the department.
Hahndiek, who is District Manager of the DEDEA, said that “the situation we found in Grahamstown was absolutely disgusting to say the least, and it would appear that the springs feeding the Blaaukrantz and Kowie rivers are in fact malfunctioning sewer systems”. He added that “the Grahamstown sewage system is incapable of coping with the volumes, and the system is stressed beyond its capacity”.
He is appealing to the public to report all sewage leaks to his offi ce. “This is the fi rst step in holding the municipality accountable”. DEDEA would like to build up a complete picture of the problem, so that they have a record for reference in the event that the municipality fails to clean up and solve the problem.
They want details of the exact location of leaks, and photographs would be a great help. Contact: Qunitus Hahndiek at DEDEA (corner of Huntley Street and Coles Lane) on 046 622 7216.
Contacts for Makana Enviro-News:
Nikki Kohly: nkohly@yahoo.com, 046 636 1643/Lawrence Sisitka: heilaw@ imaginet.co.za, 046 622 8595/Jenny Gon: j-gon@intekom.co.za, 046 622 5822/Dan Wylie d.wylie@ru.ac.za, 046 603 8409/Nick James: nickjames@
intekom.co.za, 046 622 5757
