Hennops River water: Clean-up for Earth Day

Volunteers of the Hennops Revival and the Development Bank of South Africa (DBSA) tested the Hennops River water in Centurion to create awareness for Earth Day tomorrow.

Hennops Revival founder Tarryn Johnston said the clean-up was in celebration of Earth Day and part of a three-day clean-up event in Lyttleton.

Demand for volunteers

“We started cleaning up in the week because there was a demand for corporate volunteers,” she said. Johnston and her team of volunteers were joined by members of DBSA and corporate volunteers who tested the river’s water and cleaned up around the bushes.

“At this stage, we are not touching the Hennops due to the cholera outbreak recently. “I know it is unconfirmed but I don’t trust it.” Johnston said it was vital to clean up the community.

“We live here and feed off the land. The more pollution there is out there in our waterways or natural reserves, the more is affects us. The earth owns us, not the other way around.”

Johnston said the pollution is a reflection of our society. “The water reflects us, as a community, and it is broken.”

She added that the latest test results at the Hennops River forum showed 84 million counts of alkaline per 100 millilitres.

Better waste management formed part of the solution, she said. “I can go weeks without putting out rubbish for collection.

ALSO READ: Pretoria residents outraged at condition of Hennops river

I recycle everything I can and compost my food waste. There’s so little waste to get rid of.” Johnston said throwing away something was a myth.

“It’s a lie. That piece of waste you throw away never truly goes away.

It ends up somewhere, either on a landfill or in nature.”

Christine Gruening from Germany attended the clean-up as part of training for Germany’s National Development Banks and the DBSA.

“In Germany, our rivers are clean, so this is an experience to see what they are trying to solve,” she said. Gruening said South African rivers were in a bad state, compared to Germany.

“We have different legislations and rules in Germany, so the quality is much higher. This clean-up is a very impressive initiative.”

Monique de Villiers, Nikita Albarran and Marli van den Berg from Brand IO were part of the group of corporate volunteers on the day.

Albarran said seeing all the pollution in the bush was disgusting. De Villiers said the pollution was deeper rooted than she realised.

“When I clean here I cannot help but think why. I just urge people to stop polluting the environment,” she said. Van den Berg said she didn’t understand why they had to clean up if people would litter there again the following day.

After Vuyo Notshutsha finished school in 2021, he joined the Hennops Revival and has been cleaning the river and river banks for over a year.

He said the weirdest items he has picked up include dirty nappies, condoms and tyres. “It shows South Africans don’t care about the environment,” he said.

“It’s important to clean our environment so we can live in a healthy society where our animals can have clean water.

We need a clean environment and clean water.” Notshutsha said he enjoyed cleaning the Hennops. “I love working with nature and outdoors, so I am happy,” he said.

READ MORE: IN PICS – The killing of the once-scenic Hennops River

– marizkac@citizen.co.za