Oil spill chaos in the east
A number of fish is said to have perished when a generator leaked diesel into the water leading into the Moreleta spruit.
A mechanical failure has led to liters of diesel contaminating a stream in the east of Pretoria.
A number of fish is said to have perished when a generator leaked diesel into the water leading into the Moreleta Spruit.
The spill had many furious residents complaining about the stench from the stream.
The generator is owned by engineering company African Horizon Technologies, which is working at a construction project at Menlyn Park shopping mall.
Horizon managing director Jacques Steyn said: “An unforeseen mechanical failure resulted in one of the generators leaking two weeks ago.”
The company was doing everything in its power to fix the problem, he said.
It had deployed a team to attend to the spill.
Steyn, however, denied that fish were killed by the oil leak.
“The stream has a high influx of pollution from patrons around it,” he said
He said the change in season could easily have caused the 12 to 15 fish to die.
“It is unfortunate that this has happened but we are attending to it.”
Local resident Tyrone Morris blamed the spill for the death of the fish adding that a putrid smell caught his attention on Monday two weeks ago.
He followed the smell from Lynnwood Manor near Atterbury Road to the small bridge on Frikkie de Beer Street near a car dealership in Menlyn.
He said he identified the problem and alerted the city council on Tuesday.
“I was notified the matter would be investigated and the culprits identified.”
Morris said there were dead fish and all sorts of debris in the water.
“This stream is contaminated and the sad truth is it leads straight into the Moreleta Spruit,” he said.
“The stream is an absolute disaster going into spring season.”
He said it remained to be seen what the long-term implications would be if nothing was done.
A street vendor near the contaminated stream, who only identified herself as Lydia, said she was surprised by the unpleasant smell she encountered last Saturday around 08:00.
“We were all surprised by the stream’s dark colour.”
“The smell must have been caused by the decaying fish and rats.”
The team said to have been hired by Horizon cleaned the murky stream of the garbage, dead rats and oil slick on Thursday morning.
Menlyn Shopping Centre confirmed it was aware of the water issue and said measures had been taken to attend to the problem.
The centre’s consultant account director Chloe Torr said the diesel came from a generator used in its construction project.
Charl Marais, development manager at the centre said: “As a client and community member we share all concerns arising from this incident.”
Everything possible was being done to reduce the negative environmental impact, he said.
“We will be making sure the incident is properly managed.”
He said the centre had alerted all relevant authorities.
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