Do you want to fix up the Lonehill Dam?
LONEHILL – The LRA EnviroFund is looking for residents and other stakeholders to join a committee tasked with addressing problems at the Lonehill Dam
After a community meeting on the matter, the Lonehill Residents Association (LRA) is forming a committee to help determine the future of the Lonehill Dam and is inviting residents and other stakeholders to get involved.
The LRA recently held a community discussion around the future of the Lonehill Dam and how to address issues the dam faces, such as the presence of invasive species such ase Kariba and milfoil weeds which are alien and affect the ecosystem of the area and drainage issues. The opportunity was used to provide feedback to the community on the extensive stakeholder engagement the organisation had been doing with various authorities and departments and also present possible solutions.
“There are basically a few options for fixing the dam so we chatted around these,” said Maryke Blewett, the estate manager for LRA. “The community decided that, since this is a rather complex and sizable project, it would be best to establish a small committee to champion the project.”
Blewett and her team welcome residents in the area and anyone else interested in working on the project to get in contact.
“We would like to invite people from the community or any other person with an interest in this project to contact the LRA Envirofund team. We would like to establish a small committee to compile and implement a business, strategic and marketing plan for this project in order to secure the necessary funding to rehabilitate the dam.”
During the LRA’s engagement with the community and environmental experts many possible solutions were discussed. Some of them are as follows:
• The removal of the dam wall and rehabilitation of the stream and dam basin
• The creation of a series of wetlands including ‘natural’ pools
• The creation of a series of wetlands and the utilisation of micro-organism and fish species to manage weed
growth
• The building of erosion protection walls
“The estimated cost of any of these options is substantial. There are advantages and disadvantages to all the options and the distribution of the costs also varies. Certain options require more capital outlay upfront while others may require less capital outlay but require a continual flow of funds,” she added. The Envirofund team is hoping to finalise the committee by the end of April, so anyone interested in joining is asked to please contact the team.
Details: envirofund@lra.org.za
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