All hands on deck for Spruit Day 2017
BORDEAUX – Many residents turned out on Spruit Day to help clean their open spaces.
Spruit Day took over the Braamfontein Spruit again this year with 24 residents’ associations and special interest groups taking part in the massive clean-up.
The Old Parktonian Sports Club was one of them on 16 September.
Residents from all over came together to clean the spruit next to the sports club.
Johannesburg City Parks also got involved and decided to donate 80 trees to be planted next to the river.
Lizette Driescher, the club manager at the Old Parktonian, said this was the third the year the club was involved in Spruit Day.
“The area is like an extension of the sports club. The whole idea is to clean up litter in the spruit. We want to create a safe area so that it can be used as a facility for families,” Driescher said.
The threes that were planted will now help build the biodiversity after much of the alien plants were removed.
“The day is featured every year as one of collaboration between various communities which help keep the Braamfontein Spruit clean, and this year things got bigger.
“I think people are becoming more passionate about their environment, especially because of projects like these.”
Indeed, Nicole van Dyk, Ward 99 councillor, agreed that Spruit Day interest grew this year.
She said that even though awareness is rising, right now there are not enough people taking care of their environment.
“People need to take ownership of their space again,” Van Dyk said.
Eco Culture Sechaba Foundation also offered a helping hand. Co-founder Alex Frost said the day was about investigating the water quality.
“We are teaming up with Spruit Day to add our expertise and try to rehabilitate the water. We want a thriving ecosystem and we are working to create more of a green corridor with the trees to help animals move up the river,” Frost said.
Frost and co-founder Sergio Gonçalves did a water test later on in the day as well.
Gonçalves added that people need to more aware, log sewerage spills and change their mindsets.
“You can as one person make a difference even if it is starting a chain reaction,” Gonçalves said.
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