Students conduct studies at the Bronkhorstspruit Dam

Students from the University of Johannesburg and the university’s Process, Energy and Environmental Technology Station (PEETS) recently visited the Bronkhorstspruit Dam to conduct water quality and hyacinth studies.

PEETS will do feasibility tests for the wetland and bacteria spectrum profiles for both inlets of the Bronkhorstspruit Dam.

These studies are planned to be short, medium and long-term regarding oxygen profiles, bacteria spectrum, greenhouse gases, sludge levels and content, dam bathymetry and rehab feasibility.

The individuals who conducted the tests at Bronkhorstspruit Dam are Boitumelo Radijele, Alli Carroll and Professor Chris Curtis.

Radijele is doing her honours project on the oxygen profiling of the dam and trying to link this to the whereabouts of the hyacinth (dead or alive).

She started oxygen, nitrate and phosphate profiling along the dam at different depths. It was also Radijele’s first month of sampling, with the intention to return monthly through to September or October.

Cara Stoke from the Bronkhorstspruit Catchment Management Forum (BCMF), arranged a boat for water column profiling and identifying study sites.

Alli Carroll is a new PhD student and although she is still busy with her proposal, she will most likely be working on large dams in Gauteng, including the Bronkhorstspruit Dam, to look at the effects of failing wastewater treatment works on greenhouse gas emissions.

Carroll hopes to identify potential sites for deploying their good corporate governance caravan/trailer with good security at the water’s edge for two week campaigns on a seasonal basis.

Paddy Waller, director of the BCMF said, “More than 35% of Bronkhorstspruit Dam is covered in hyacinth which is native to South America. The hyacinth in the dam covers more than 250 hectare. Stakeholders within the catchment area have joined forces to combat the pollution in the rivers, which is the main cause for the rapid hyacinth growth.”

The BCMF decided to take matters into their own hands to save the wetlands. The wetlands team meets bi-weekly to discuss the Bronkhorstspruit Nature Reserve wetland and other rehab strategies.

A member of the BCMF said, “Good news is emerging regarding some wetlands and seeps in the catchment eligible for rehabilitation through biodiversity offset projects from the private and public sectors.”

“Many meetings have been conducted in the background involving wetlands, water quality specialists, lawyers, government officials, private and public sector, estate directors and stakeholders and emerging rehabilitation product consultants.”

“The University of Johannesburg Aquatic Zoology will do pesticide and toxicology studies on the fish in the Bronkhorstspruit Dam from May,” said Stokes.