City Parks and community clear out litter clogging Florida Lake storm water inlet

The old lake is a larger part of a grand ecosystem.

In the eastern corner of the lake is a storm water inlet that has been clogged with litter and debris. With an increase in the dirt and litter in the streets around the lake, water pouring from the inlet into the lake comes with all the filth washed away into the drains. The inlet has been identified as one of the main contributors to the poor water quality of the lake, something that negatively effects fishing and water sports hosted by organisations at the lake.

Johannesburg City Parks and Zoo (JCPZ) sent a clean-up crew to the site to tidy the waterway in the immediate vicinity of the inlet, February 22. Among the usual collection of bottles, papers and plastic, the reeds also have been home to a living room couch and industrial-size tyre. Wayne Goosen, Chairman of the Roodepoort Angling Club (RAC), relayed how the area around the inlet used to be too deep to stand, but over time, silt has been allowed to build up, creating a sand bank that sits almost as high as the inlet.

As well as removing the couch, tyre and litter, the JPCZ team cleared away reeds at the water’s edge, allowing the water to flow easier toward the outlet which sits close to the swimming pool. To dig a deeper trench around the reeds, Wayne arranged a TLB to scrape clear the sediment around the inlet, allowing for faster flow. Polluted water has a different density to clean water, so the increased flow allows for less contamination as the dirty water moves toward the outlet.