Calls by residents and environmentalists to have the powers that be take action against those responsible for the pollution of Gillooly’s Stream seem to have fallen on deaf ears.
In March, the NEWS reported that upon conducting an inspection, Mr Irwin Juckes of Edenvale RiverWatch found that the pollution was coming from the city centre.
He said, “The source of the foam pollution is upstream at 10th Street in Bezuidenhout Valley, which probably means it comes from the Johannesburg city centre. The levels of pollution pouring into our river courses are a danger to health. It also impacts on water security.”
At the time, environmental consultant Mr Paul Fairall said although the foam looks like soap getting into the river, sewage is the greatest polluting factor in the river.
The foam seen floating on the surface of the stream closest to Clarkson Street, after the small waterfall, has since increased.
The ward 20 councillor, Clr Jill Humphreys, wrote to a senior official from the City of Joburg’s Water Quality and Catchment Management Environment and Infrastructure Services who promised, on March 10, that his department would investigate the matter and revert to all parties concerned.
“We are anxiously waiting for news of the source of the sewage inflow to the stream that reaches us in Morninghill, Bedfordview. It comes as no surprise that the E.coli tested high; and the damage is being done continuously and all the way down. I can’t imagine that it would be difficult to find such a source. The urgency of mitigating against it is absolute,” reads the email.
Mr Fairall said the pollution causes irreparable ecological and bio-diversity damage to the catchment.
“Some of the pathogens can live on the river banks for years and E.coli can also survive in the mud and sediment for years,” he said.
@Duenna_M
