It appears as though there might be an end to the industrial discharge that flows into the Modderfontein stream.
Dr Irwin Juckes, the founder of Edenvale RiverWatch, said the discharge is not as bad as it was before, however it has not stopped.
The NEWS reported on November 18, 2015, that the City of Johannesburg (CoJ) had taken about six samples to determine which company is responsible for the paint water discharge into the stream.
Dr Juckes said the problem of coloured industrial discharge from Founder’s Hill has been going on since before 2009, as far as he could find in his research.
“Over the years it had come into focus and received attention, then it faded away as people grew tired of the lack of action. In that time, the area has bushed over and it can only be seen if one make the effort to get to the site. I took it up in May last year, so the current round of effort has lasted almost a year. In this time we have had some success but the pollution is not entirely resolved,” said Dr Juckes.
He said in June and August 2015, the CoJ inspected the area and he was present during the inspection.
“They took samples both times, and I was told later the only useful finding was grease. They followed up and found an engineering firm that was running its effluent into the storm water system and since then, the black grease in the effluent has stopped,” he said.
Regarding the coloured discharge, he said attempts to get action were slow until he made a video which was posted on YouTube early in February. That is when interest in the issue increased.
“After further work, the CoJ told me they knew the culprit but needed an inspector from the Gauteng Department of Agriculture and Rural Development (GDARD), with sufficient authority, to address it. This combined inspection with GDARD finally took place on April 1 and a company was issued a directive to cease polluting. The expectation was that the matter was over,” said Dr Juckes.
He said the Edenvale RiverWatch volunteers have monitored the site most days since April 1, and it appears the discharge has reduced but not stopped.
In addition to pigment in the water, which seems fluorescent in the background, there is oil on the surface which can be seen where the effluent enters the main river.
Dr Juckes said they will continue to monitor the site until the situation becomes clear.
In November 2015, Mr Nthatisi Modingoane, the spokesperson for the CoJ, said despite the inspection by a task team, consisting of the Department of Environmental Management, Environmental Health, the Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality and officials from Johannesburg Water’s Laboratory Services, the problem was still not resolved.
At the time, Mr Modingoane said a decision was taken to perform a follow-up inspection to cover the other factories which were not considered in the previous inspection.
“There were about six samples taken, two from the river and four from two paint companies’ factory premises. There was no evidence of effluent being discharged into the sewer system from these two factories. There was only one factory which Joburg Water confirmed is discharging into the sewer channel. However, fingerprinting results have since showed there was no conclusive evidence to link the pollution to the company,” said Mr Modingoane.
“For now we are awaiting the analysis results for the samples which were taken on August 18,” he said.
Inquiries were sent by the NEWS to the CoJ with a request for comment.
The latest request for comment was sent on April 6 with a request for comment by April 7. At the time of going to print, no comment had been received.
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