The Paddadam – the story so far

Doug Grewar writes:-

THE PADDADAM Park Community & Municipal Clean-up Project was started in 2014. The community donated labour, materials, machinery and fuel in excess of R103, 000 over a period of 11 weeks before the rain stopped us.

A trench was dug through the dam wall to drain the water from the dam so that machines could get in to work. Culvert pipes were installed and the excavation was back filled. A community member has volunteered to install a penstock valve on the culvert pipe so that when the dam is clean, the valve can be closed and the dam refilled with water. This penstock can be used to drain the dam for cleaning in future years without us having to do all these damages.

Several dozen bakkie and truck loads of rubbish, bottles, builder’s rubble, chunks of concrete and Kariba weed (salvinia molesta) were removed to the dump site.

A drainage trench was excavated along the full length of the south bank. A shorter drain was excavated on the north bank. In the area nearest the dam wall the silt that had washed into the dam over many years was piled up into three ridges to dry out ready for removal before the rains stopped work.

The AbaQulusi Local Municipality (ALM) Community Services Director had a new gate installed at the entrance to the park. Her staff cut down and removed a lot of the invasive species trees in the jungle on the North West side of the park.

The schedule of works required now in 2015 includes:

The excavated material on the south and north banks has been spread out with a grader on the lawns. The three ridges of silt inside the dam are being removed. The ALM has sent a TLB and a 10 ton tipper truck to help with this for the last two Saturdays. We have a tracked excavator promised for next week by Dirk Booysens but we still need more trucks. Some of the material is being used to repair the eroded roads in the park and the rest can fill a large low lying area.

We need to continue excavating the area that is overgrown with reeds into ridges ready for removal. Horst Hellberg has promised to bring his tracked excavator for 30 hours in the first week of September. Gumpoles to walk to machine on are being contributed by Kokkies.

The three collapsed overflow pipes in the dam wall need to be repaired. The dam wall itself is leaking below the overflow pipes. Our (community) civil engineers have made some suggestions how to prevent these leaks that will eventually cause the dam wall to collapse.

The stone pitching retaining wall has collapsed for maybe 100m along the south bank. This needs reinstating to prevent erosion. As soon as the three ridges have been removed from the dam, the drain with running water in it can be moved away from the south bank to a more central position to facilitate the stone pitching work.

In the jungle and near the dam wall several big concrete beams of have been dumped. These have already been moved to where they can be buried.

In the jungle there are a large number of invasive species trees. These are being up rooted with a TLB and burnt. The remaining indigenous trees are having their lower branches off by the ALM to facilitate the access of the grass cutting tractor. The scrub bush that provides a haven for hobos and dangerous criminals needs to be removed.

There are numerous tree stumps near the dam wall and in other places that obstruct the grass cutting machinery and need to be removed with a TLB and the area tidied up.

Afriforum have donated 30 indigenous tree seedlings that we will be planting on Arbour Day, September 1. We have excavated planting holes in the hard soil and have filled them with the rich soil excavated from the dam. Another member has offered to restock the dam with fish for free.

We have community members who have volunteered to repair and repaint the children’s swings and roundabouts on the south bank. Future improvements could include security fencing the park and renovating the ablution block.

We urgently need more donations of machine and truck time, labour, or cash to hire them. There is only a short window of opportunity before the rains will stop work, so please assist. Donations can be made to Keith Sparrow of Sparrow Computers or to Brigitte Alston at Sanlam.