Duzi River clean-up progressing well
The DWS urged residents living upstream of the Duzi River, Mgeni River, Inanda Dam and surroundings to not use water from the resource until further notice.
THE clean-up of Duzi River in KwaZulu-Natal is progressing well, the Department of Water and Sanitation (DWS) said on Sunday.
“Approximately 100 people are currently cleaning different sections of the river from the Baynespruit, Msunduzi and further down to Inanda Dam,” said the department.
The department is investigating the pollution of the river due to a spillage that happened at Willowton Oil in Pietermaritzburg, which worked its way downstream into uMngeni River and into Inanda Dam.
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Following the spillage, a task team was formed to monitor the clean-up progress and ensure compliance with the environmental legislation including by-laws.
The task team, made up of stakeholders including DWS, Umgeni Water, Msunduzi Municipality as well as managers of the clean-up companies and Willowton representatives held their first meeting on Thursday.
The first report from the meeting stated that there was a structural collapse of two tanks. One was containing fatty acid, and the other tank contained caustic lime.
The collapsed tanks crushed the crude oil pipe, resulting in the leakage of crude oil into the water resource. The report further stated that about 1 600 tons of products were spilled within Willowton Group premises and flowed into Baynespruit River through the storm water drains.
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“An independent environmentalist has been appointed to ensure compliance with all the environmental legislation and to submit all the reports required within the specified timeframes. Ground Truth has been appointed to assess the impact on the water resources and to effect all the Best Practical Environmental Options remediation measures,” said the department.
Clean-up companies Spilltech and Drizit were appointed to undertake a clean-up of both the affected water resources and the operational area.
Meanwhile, Umgeni Water has released water from Henly Dam to dilute the spilled product that escaped from Baynespruit into Msunduzi River.
The DWS urged residents living upstream of the Duzi River, Mgeni River, Inanda Dam and surroundings to not use water from the resource until further notice.
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