Polluted lake is affecting wildlife
FOURWAYS - Resident, Eckhard Rodenwoldt wants the Fourways Mall lake to be cleaned up.
Rodenwoldt visits the lake at Fourways Mall every afternoon because he feeds the ducks and geese that live around the lake as well as the feral cat colony.
Yet a recent visit left him shocked and disgusted at the condition of the lake. He arrived to find that a white foamy substance was covering the surface of the lake. “It smelt like chlorine and the goose family which I feed was huddled on one rock to try and get away from the chemicals,” he said.
Rodenwoldt contacted wildlife rehabilitation centre, FreeMe which sent an inspector to the scene. Michelle Bertschinger of FreeMe said when they arrived at the lake the birds had already flown away, but the lake was covered in a white substance and the smell being emitted from the lake was terrible.
“FreeMe is very concerned about the animals living around the lake,” she said. “While there is no immediate health risk as most of the wildlife are free flying birds, we also know that a water mongoose and some genets live around the lake.”
Bertschinger said when there was a lake such as this in an urban area it was sure to attract wildlife and therefore needed to be managed and maintained.
Rodenwoldt said the recent case of pollution was not the only case. “The lake has gotten progressively worse and worse,” he said. “There is a horrible smell all the time and litter floating in the water.”
The management of Fourways Mall said the retail centre was not responsible for the pollution. According to marketing manager of the mall, Marijke Arran they believe the pollution is coming from upstream and collects in the lake. “Although we would like to, we are not allowed to put in the bio-enzyme treatment ourselves because the lake does not belong to us,” she said.
