Amcor dam faces ecological crisis

While the surface issue may appear to be significant overgrowth rendering the dam unsuitable for fishing and recreation, the true heart of the matter is in the impending ecological crisis facing the dam and the Ncandu River which feeds into it.

Without urgent intervention, the situation could turn deadly.

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Conservationist Angus Burns explains how the Amcor Dam acts like a sump, with vegetation absorbing and becoming saturated with phosphates and other pollutants.

“The reeds are a natural response to an unnatural situation. They are now choking the dam and one day it may become a giant wetland.”

This may not seem problematic at first glance, yet should the nutrient load get out of hand, the result could be blooming blue-green bacteria (algae) which would leave the water sources poisoned.

Bacteria known as E. coli would be the least of problems then.

Over the past 10 years of more, Burns has predicted a collapse of the river ecosystem, and has been proven correct multiple times since.

This included the river water turning blood red a few years back.

“That was a signal by the river that it was dying. Then the fish died and these were definite signals of a river crisis, and authorities haven’t done enough to fix the problem.”

Burns says that according to the World Health Organisation, E. coli colonies of between one and 100 could signify pathogens in a water source.

Anything above 1,000 is considered a ‘pollution incident’.

During his years of conservation, Burns says some water tests on the Ncandu River have come back measuring hundreds of thousands of colonies.

“The water downstream is very dangerous, but authorities always have something more important to handle.”

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