The once beautiful and serene Greenhills Spruit has been polluted to such an extent that it is now a lifeless and barren wasteland.
During a visit to the stream to try and determine the origin of the sewage that continually finds its way into the stream, the Herald and DA Ward Councillor Peter Dick could not help but notice that there does not appear to be any sign of life in or around the stream.
Not a single crab, frog or even bird was seen in the vicinity.
The stink of raw sewage pervades the air and the water is an unhealthy slimy green with an almost neon sheen.
Pieces of toilet paper cling to every rock and underwater vine, and the tell-tale signs of oil float lazily in shiny blobs on top of the water.
Leaves and branches that hang in the water, as well as the banks, are coated with black oil, literally choking the life out of the spruit.
Following the run of the spruit, we came upon a small, bright orange rust-coloured stream that joins the spruit right before it runs through the many plots and farms, where it provides water for livestock as well as irrigation on its way to joining the Tweelopies Spruit.
We would not hazard a guess as to what has turned the water in the small stream to the colour of rust.
This is only the latest of a number of water-related problems in Randfontein reported recently, with fish and cattle reported to be dying en masse just downstream from Greenhills.
The Herald has been reporting on all these matters for the past three years and despite our many enquiries in this regard, the Randfontein Local Municiplality has not done one thing to remedy the situation.
An independent company has been contacted to test water samples taken from various spots within the stream and test results should be available soon.
Watch this space for more as this story develops.
Click here for more photos of the pollution killing the Greenhills Spruit.
