Something’s in the water …
It's believed that during the rainy season, chemicals and fluids leaking from vehicles are washed into the dam next to Key West, slowly depleting the water of oxygen.
Something has reared its ugly head again at Monument Dam near Pretorius Park.
Once a year, usually around January and February, fishermen and anglers from the Monument Hengel Klub (MHK) remove schools of dead fish floating on the dam’s surface. During the first weekend in February this year, a distress call of sorts was made on Facebook for the community to help.
Read here:
https://www.citizen.co.za/krugersdorp-news/267096/whats-monument-dams-fish/
MHK and local fisherman were trying to stop the growing death toll among the fish by putting pumps into the dam to increase the oxygen levels in the water.
Attie Britz, who has been a MHK member for 47 years and is also the chairperson, said that he’d seen something very similar happen time and time again over the years, but this time it seemed much worse than before.
“This time it’s not just the fish. The ducks are dying as well.”
Attie believes the problem lies with petrol/ diesel and other chemicals that are being washed into the dam during periods of heavy rain. But, with ducks not needing oxygen from the water itself, it raises some questions as to whether anything else might be the cause.
“We’ve had water samples sent out to four different groups to check what’s going on,” Attie added. He explained that there are four separate intakes feeding into the dam, two of which they know the origin. They are now trying to determine where the other streams/ pipes originate.
Members of the community showed up with pumps and even a small boat to help stir up the water and jump-start the ecosystem again. Many were hard at work from 6am until late in the afternoon. It’s difficult to say how many dead fish removed from the water, but by the early afternoon two large bins were already filled and taken away.
The concerned community members are continuing with their efforts.
