Vaal’s water salad crisis: Save meets with Rand Water
Water lettuce dies off in cold winter weather, but it has already dropped millions of seeds that lie dormant until summer, the result of which we can see today.
Save the Vaal Environment (Save), joined other concerned members of the public at a meeting with Rand Water the past week to discuss concern about the increasing incidence of water lettuce in the Vaal River.
Save’s Maureen Stewart confirmed on Monday that the non governmental organisation is now awaiting Rand Water’s plan of action based on immediate action and a sustained long term strategy to deal with water lettuce as well as hyacinth which has reappeared on the Barrage reservoir.
The plan is expected by this Friday 26 January. In the meanwhile residents are also taking steps to remove the weeds from the water, Stewart said.
Save recently emphasized that the national departments of environment, fisheries and forestry, water and sanitation, and agriculture as well as Rand Water bear an enormous responsibility to deal with this crisis. No action means devastation of the Vaal River (already eutrophic) and beyond, including the Orange River, Save the Vaal Environment chairperson Malcolm Plant said.
Plant said the implications range from fishing (which poorer communities need to provide a meal) to agriculture, where irrigation equipment clogs, environmental devastation, loss of tourism potential, job creation, property development and local economies.
Rand Water had taken decisive action earlier to great applause for eliminating water hyacinth in the Vaal River between the Lethabo Weir and the Vaal Barrage. This year, water hyacinth has reappeared. In February 2021, water lettuce was first seen in the Suikerbos tributary and reported to Rand Water. Today, water lettuce has a firm grip on the Vaal River and its tributaries. In 2022, there was enthusiasm on the part of Rand Water, working with Rhodes University on a weevil breeding programme. Silence followed during the winter of 2023, says Plant.
Water lettuce dies off in cold winter weather, but it has already dropped millions of seeds that lie dormant until summer, the result of which we can see today.
