Shirley Tebbutt, Delta Park Users Group leader, said that the Florence Bloom Dam is 99.99% clear of the water hyacinth that had taken over the dam for a long time.
She explained that the dam is close to being fully clear. They have to clear near the weir, where the tractor loader backhoe (TLB) couldn’t reach, and that will be done with the canoes.
“Two men in canoes will painstakingly remove all the little plants hiding among the reeds and will go in with the canoe every week for a day to make sure it doesn’t grow again.”
Tebbutt and her team are finally winning the long battle, which saw her opting for hoppers in the past. They were meant to help by eating the plants, so they do not grow further.
She explained that they tried leaf hoppers, but they didn’t have enough, so she decided to go back to what they did in the top dam in 2005 – take it out manually.
“At first it seemed a bit daunting with my one canoe, but after a plea for more canoes we were loaned a long blue one and a big one which was named The Barge, because of the huge amount it could hold.”
Though the canoes were doing the work, Tebbutt decided to get a TLB to try and speed up the process.
“I contacted a contractor; he gave me one day for free, and I hired it for the next three days at R5 000 a day. It worked very well, the driver immediately understood what we were doing, and massive bucket loads were removed from the wall side. Then we had to get it from further out – so the grappling hook was thrown onto a dense bit of hyacinth and was pulled.”
She also had to get more men to assist. She ended up with a team of 11 people working together daily.
“It has been a huge success, but without all your kind and generous donations, it would never have happened. The TLB was expensive, but each bucket load was equal to a loaded canoe, and it was fun watching the rapid progress.”
She added that the hyacinth account has taken a real knock, so if anyone would like it to look a bit healthier, she would appreciate any donation.
“All this work is only possible with people donating money into the hyacinth account. I always ask if Delta Park is worth R100 [or more] every month – that is how I pay the men and equipment required. Thank you everyone who helped finance this massive project, you have all been amazingly generous.”
Kenneth Dube, one of the workers who started from day one, said that he is proud of the work they have done.
“When we started some people said we will never get it done but we worked hard to finish. It was difficult, but we knew what we needed to do.”
For the Delta Park Newsletter email to – etebbutt@worldonline.co.za
To donate use: ABSA – Account Hyacinth – No 917 362 9924 – Randburg
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