Litter trap in Hennops successful during first rains

The litter catchment trap installed in the Hennops River proved successful in its purpose after the recent rain and high levels of water experienced in Centurion.

Hennops River Revival, an NPO based in Centurion, installed the litter trap system in the river.

The organisation also prepared timeously for the rainy season by removing protruding branches and plastic waste wherever they could.

Founder of Hennops River Revival, Tarryn Johnson, was impressed with the trap’s “first opportunity to really show up”.

According to Johnson, the “phenomenal” amount of rubbish caught in the trap will take weeks to clean up.

“We have a fully functional catchment system, proof of concept right before our eyes. In phase one, we caught a tree and loads of trash on the cables. In phase two, we caught debris that passed through the first phase and a few smaller sticks and branches,” she said.

“In phase 3, we caught the smaller debris that passed through the first two phases and a lot of it.

ALSO READ: Staff held at gunpoint in R1-m east jewellery store heist

Now we just need about 100 more up and downstream as it worked exactly according to plan.”

Johnson also warned residents not to dump organic material into the river as it causes huge blockages in the river “which causes havoc”.

She said they had some high water levels on Friday and that the magnitude was both astounding and deeply concerning.

“Especially seeing as though the amount of rain we had, in my opinion, should not have resulted in flooding the way it did. First rains should at the very least be absorbed by the soil after a long period of no rain; yet, this did not seem to be the case.

“Just looking at the Hennops on Saturday, the lake, I believe the amount of water, conservatively estimated, increased by at least 10 to 15 times in volume since the previous day.”

Johnson said that is despite the huge amount of flood mitigation work done by the municipality over the past since it significantly increases flow capacity.

“I believe when the ground becomes saturated we will have massive flood risks, trees become unstable and falling over, damage to infrastructure and sinkholes.”

She said the earth is not absorbing as much water anymore because “we keep covering land and soil with cement which prevents absorption and building channels/storm water drains leading to the river”.

“Development is happening on our wetlands and there are too many illegal wastewater outlets flowing straight into our streams and rivers. Also, too much plastic covering the land.”

Do you have more information about the story?

Please send us an email to editorial@rekord.co.za or phone us on 083 625 4114.

For free breaking and community news, visit Rekord’s websites: Rekord East

For more news and interesting articles, like Rekord on Facebook, follow us on Twitter or Instagram