THE report into the recent oil spill into uMbilo River, which is still being mopped up following a pipeline breach last month, has revealed the poor quality of the water.
The organisation, Eco-Pulse Consulting which was tasked with compiling the report in terms of Section 30 of the National Environmental Management Act (NEMA) 107 of 1998, has drawn on findings it made at similar hydrocarbon spill incidents previously.
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“Based on the once-off water quality samples taken by Eco-Pulse during field investigations it is clear that water quality was ‘poor’ at all sites, driven largely by pre-existing issues in the catchment and degraded further the spill incident. Any improvements in water quality following clean-up operations will be limited by existing issues (caused by existing ‘legacy impacts’ that are not related to the oil spill) with limited opportunity to improve water quality in the study area without addressing the various existing pollution issues plaguing the greater uMbilo River catchment,” said the report.
Report
The report was compiled by a team of specialists headed by Adam Teixeira-Leite as principal scientist and ecologist, Ross Van Deventer a wetland and aquatic ecologist and Shaun McNamara, also a wetland and aquatic ecologist.
The scope of the report covers an area which includes a 300-metre reach beyond the river itself.
It also includes 2.5km of the uMbilo River downstream of the spill site where the natural river channel ends as well as the uMbilo canal.
Samples of the water both above and below the spill time were taken as part of the report. In its opening pages the report released on Thursday, 5 November, echoes the sentiment that the uMbilo River Watch community based group has been arguing for years.
Recover
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Greenpeace
“It took a catastrophic event like this disastrous Transnet pipeline crude oil spill bring to light the state of the dying uMbilo river system,” she said sadly.
“This is also an important time to re-look at our unhealthy dependence on fossil fuels,” she said.
On the first day following the oil spill, Desmond D’Sa of South Durban Community Environmental Alliance (SDCEA) spoke to the Highway Mail along the banks of the river where the clean-up operations had begun.
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