Eco champs put their work to test

THE busy Eco Champs have added a new field to their work which includes water quality tests. This is being done in addition to their river monitoring and manhole issue reporting.

This is the beginning of an initiative to make their work more visible and measurable by producing quantitative data to accompany their monitoring work.

Aller River Project liaison officer, Thozeka Ntlukwane, said the first step in the initiative has been to create tables and graphs recording the causes of manhole leakages and the time taken by the municipality to repair leakages after they have been reported.

ALSO READ: Clermont Eco Warriors: “Every drop is precious”

“Currently, the results show that, although the municipality has made assurances that issues will be dealt with in 48 hours of reporting, only 38 per cent of the reported leaks are repaired within that time, and only 35 per cent of reported leaks in 2018 have been repaired so far,” she said.

The Eco Champs hope to use these records to inform and support improved performance of the eThekwini Water and Sanitation Unit’s Waste Water Network.

Ntlukwane explained that the second step has been the inclusion of the water quality tests as part of their usual river monitoring.

“The kits have been generously provided by Professor Esta Van Heerden of iWater Solutions and GCS Consulting. They include agar slants and agar plates, which test for the presence of faecal bacteria and lactose-fermenting bacteria, such as EColi, and test strips for nitrate and phosphate concentrations, both of which can contribute to eutrophication and algal growth when present in excessive amounts.”

According to Ntlukwane, these test kits are relatively new on the market and show great promise in that they can produce meaningful data at a relatively low cost.

ALSO READ: Aller River eco warriors stand strong

“The first set of data collection showed that nitrate levels remain within safe bounds, but that phosphate exceeds the limit stipulated for healthy river systems. Both E.Coli and faecal bacteria were found at almost all the sample sites along the river,” she added.

The water testing will be done on a weekly basis, starting from the river’s source in New Germany, and working downstream into Clermont, so the effects of the manhole leakages can be measured in contrast with the natural state of the river.

Although current results are disappointing, the Eco Champs are excited to add this new skill to their knowledge base and hope to produce useful and important data to reinforce the work they have done until now.

Do you want to receive alerts regarding this and other Highway community news via WhatsApp? Send us a WhatsApp message (not an sms) with your name and surname (ONLY) to 060 532 5409.

You can also join the conversation on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

PLEASE NOTE: If you have signed up for our news alerts you need to save the Highway Mail WhatsApp number as a contact to your phone, otherwise you will not receive our alerts