Plea to keep the uMngeni River clean and safe

PLASTIC, polystyrene, earbud sticks, cosmetic containers, clay pots and even furniture items are few of the many items the Adopt-A-River team that cleans up along the uMngeni river daily.

In addition to this, Janet Simpkins, director and founder of Adopt-A-River, said the sporadic sewage spills contribute to the deteriorating health of the river.

“It is devastating to see fish kills along the river. When there’s a spill, it’s evident and there’s a stench present. The water also changes colour and we notice all of this as we work on keeping the river clean every day,” she said.

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She added that while it was sometimes difficult to establish where the spills stemmed from, she felt the eThekwini Municipality needed to make a more concerted effort towards attending to and fixing sewage leaks.

“We are able to report issues to the relevant departments, however we wish there were more teams on the ground to respond swiftly and that there was less red tape when it comes to actually fixing the source of the problem. Our rivers and beaches, and their ecosystems, are suffering immensely,” she added.

Simpkins added that unfortunately, for many, the rivers and estuaries have become a dumping ground.

“People come and dump whatever they feel like in our rivers and beaches without thinking of the implications it could have on marine life. We are destroying their habitat and killing them,” she said.

Simpkins urged residents to discard of their waste in the correct manner, and not to flush foreign objects down the toilet.

“The amount of plastic earbud sticks and other plastic items we find along the river is frightening. These items are not biodegradable,” she said.