Senzo Mchunu, the Minister of Water and Sanitation, and Barbara Creecy, the Minister of Forestry, Fisheries, and Environment, have formed a task team to identify interventions with demonstrable outcomes to oversee the removal of foreign invasive plants from the Vaal River.
This comes in response to public outcry over Rand Water’s use of the herbicide glyphosate to eradicate alien invasive plants from the Vaal River.
According to a joint statement from the departments, the task team, which includes the CEO of Rand Water and the directors-general of the two departments, has identified immediate short- and long-term interventions with clear outcomes to manage the situation.
The task force identified certain short-term, immediate interventions, such as modifying the integrated control approach to evaluate the use of a herbicide registered with the Department of Agriculture, Land Reform, and Rural Development.
Wastewater treatment works
In the middle term, compliance and enforcement actions will be stepped up against the sources of pollution that are making this happen.
In the long term, the Vaal River catchment strategy for invasive alien aquatic species will be reviewed so that a strategy can be put in place that will deal with the problem in its entirety.
“Lastly, the refurbishment of the Rietspruit, Sebokeng, and Leeukuil wastewater treatment works will be fast-tracked to reduce pollution that is also contributing to the high eutrophication of the Vaal River system,” the departments said.
“Multiple control strategies deployed simultaneously [biological, chemical, and manual removal of alien invasives] are currently under investigation by the task team since a sustainable solution is required to manage the situation.”
Because of safety concerns, the glyphosate spraying over water hyacinths choking the Vaal River has been discontinued.
In the meantime, a Department of Water and Sanitation investigation last year discovered that there was excessive algae growth due to high nutrient levels in the water, which caused a depletion of oxygen levels and left a sizable number of fish lying dead at the Hartbeespoort Dam in the North West. – SAnews.gov.za
