It’s not hitting the fan, it’s in the water
For more than a year, excrement has literally been pumped into the source of Vryheid's drinking water.
“YES,” states AfriForum Chairman, Andrè van der Walt, when asked if he is aware of the current sewage problem at Klipfontein Dam. “It’s been happening all along… It’s nothing new.”
For more than a year, according to Van der Walt, they have been on the municipality’s case about the gut-churning reality of excrement literally being pumped into the source of Vryheid’s drinking water and still there have been no results.
“The Department of Water Affairs is doing nothing,” he explains. “We have handed it over to Environmental Services, so let’s hope something happens now…”
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But the local fishermen are fed up and the once popular fishing destination is fast becoming a sickening cesspool of filth as the algae takes over again and disgusting green sludge builds up where the water meets the shore along the banks of Klipfontein Dam.
“I’ve been involved at this dam since 1982,” states a local fisherman. “This is terrible. The smell is horrific and you can’t even go in that water, that’s the biggest danger. If you’ve got a cut or a wound and you go into the water, that bacteria will attack you. You’ll probably end up getting gangrene or something. It’s disgusting!”
ALSO READ: Tests reveal high E-coli count in outflow to Klipfontein Dam
“Animals are drinking this water,” adds Robbie Price. “People downstream towards Ulundi are drinking this water,” he stresses. “It’s contaminated. I won’t touch that water,” he adds sternly. “I won’t even put my feet in that water.”
