Metro investigates Apies River smell
"You can see a clear difference between the two rivers - one looks clean and the other you can see is dirty."
Residents of the Moot are concerned about the pollution of the Apies River.
This has particularly affected residents in the vicinity of the low-water bridge in Capital Park, said sector police deputy chairperson, Anthony Smith.
“The pollution in the river causes a bad smell hanging around the area,” he said.
“The smell ranges from a sewer-like smell and just a general bad smell. It has become particularly severe in the last six months.”
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Another sector police member, Tom Stähnke, has made it his mission to get to the bottom of the problem.
Stähnke, along with the police to where the rivers meet.
“You can see a clear difference between the two rivers – one looks clean and the other one you can see is dirty,” he said.
He said during their search for the cause of the pollution, they saw that there were several contributors to the problem.
“A large portion of the pollution comes from various shops and other elements in Marabastad,” he explained.
“There is even a section where sellers sell raw meat at the market. There is no drainage system in place so all that rotten blood just flows into the river.”
He said there was also garbage dumped in the river.
“The people who live in Marabastad themselves also bathe in the river and do their laundry,” he said.
Stähnke said it also appeared that there was sewage in the water.
“Before we got the good rain last week, there was also foam floating on the water,” he said.
“It may be an indication of sewage being in the water, but we have not yet been able to detect a sewage leak.”
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Local ward councillor Elma Nel said she was aware of the problem.
“I don’t understand why the river is still polluted if the city council provides more than enough municipal bins to everyone,” she said.
“Responsibility starts with you. Don’t dump illegally and use the resources provided to you by the Tshwane metro.”
Metro spokesperson Lindela Mashigo said they were aware of the current high pollution in the Apies River.
He said the pollution emanated from various sources in the catchment area.
“Our environmental management inspectors conducted a site inspection on Tuesday, starting at the Capital Park low water bridge and following the river upstream to assess the situation,” he said.
“Necessary actions will be implemented to address the situation afterwards.”
At the time of going to press, it was not yet known what the end result of the investigation was.
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