NGODWANA – A number of hair-raising issues, such as the sewage spills in informal settlements like Entokozweni, were again raised at the the Crocodile River Management Forum meeting hosted by Sappi Ngodwana last Friday.
A far greater number of stakeholders attended the meeting than usual.
The sewage issue not only seems to threaten the Elands River adjacent to Entokozweni, but involves more issues of sewage spilling into the Crocodile River due to illegal informal settlements in the KaNyamazane area, which is a another bone of contention.
The Inkomati Catchment Management Agency said it was investigating the issue. “It’s a serious concern to the forum on how this issue is going to be resolved. Houses are very close to each other, so close that no vehicle can even pass in between them. It is impossible for the reticulation pipe to go through and if the current system of discharging their sewage continues, it is going to cause serious challenges eventually,” the agency said and took note of the issue surrounding the KaNyamazane area.
The Department of Water and Sanitation has tasked the City of Mbombela, The Department of Human Settlements and Cogta to work together to sort out the problem. The meeting resolved that the issue will remain on the agenda until it was solved.
Another issue that was raised included the E. coli levels in the dams within the catchment area. It turns out that the E. coli counts in the Crocodile River showed the lowest counts upstream and downstream of Kwena Dam, but the middle and upper catchment areas of the Crocodile showed high counts, again due to sewer, manhole and pump-station spillage, partially treated effluent from waste water treatment works and illegal dumping into the river.
The practice of nappies carelessly being thrown into rivers was again cause for grave concern.
Theo Dormehl, chairman of the Crocodile Catchment Forum, came up with an ingenious solution regarding the challenges faced in conducting accurate and frequent water tests.
A test kit, which he will obtain from the University of the Free State, is the first step of an initiative targeting pupils from rural schools, so that they conduct water tests to be submitted on a regular basis.
As for the drought in the area, Dr Tendai Sawunyama raised concerns regarding the uncertainty of the El Niño phenomena.
“At this stage it is still too early to predict the impact on the next summer season (2017/18) over Southern Africa. However, historically it may have a negative impact on summer rainfall,” he said.
Residents are urged to report pollution incidents by phoning 013-753-9000.

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