Foam shock during Hennops river clean-up in

A large build-up of foam in the Hennops river on Sunday shocked residents who were busy cleaning up a portion of the stream, Rekord Centurion reports.

The clean-up was hosted by non-profit organisation Fresh.

Fresh director Willem Snyman said 71 bags of garbage were removed during the campaign.

“At one stage while we were cleaning we noticed a thick foam coming down the river,” said Snyman.

“We later determined this was coming from the Olifantsfontein water treatment plant. We informed them of this shortly after noticing the foam.”

Snyman said over the past years the Hennops had been plagued by huge foam levels.

“Recently much attention was focused on the Olifantsfontein plant. Thankfully, with a directive from the water and sanitation department, the foam stopped for a few months. Now the pollution nightmare has returned in full force.”

Another problem, according to Snyman, was the large amount of garbage placed next to the river by informal recyclers.

“There is still lots of garbage which has been left next to the river by the recyclers,” said Snyman.

He said this was because the recyclers could not make use of every piece of garbage they collected.

“They end up leaving what they couldn’t use and that has flowed into the river,” said Snyman.

He said while the informal recyclers did a valuable and vital job, “they do turn the riversides where they live into a trash dump”.

“When the rivers flood all of this garbage gets swept downstream.”