Work on clearing the Little Amanzimtoti River of water lettuce and other aquatic floating weeds is progressing well.
Teams of workers from the Extended Public Works Programme were employed by eThekwini Municipality three weeks ago to clear water hyacinth in the Toti River, and water lettuce in the Little Amanzimtoti River after sustained pressure from Toti Conservancy and the public.
The teams working on the Toti River received a boost from Shaun Callaghan and his Army Saints, who were not content with waiting for the municipality to kick into action.
According to the conservancy’s Corinne Wilson, work on the Toti River should be completed in about a week’s time and both teams will be re-deployed to the Little Amanzimtoti River to completed the project there.
“That team of 10 workers started clearing the water lettuce from the Kingsway road bridge, towards the mouth,” said Corinne. “The problem is they first have to clear the river bank of invasive vegetation before they can hook and pull out the water lettuce.”
The plan is for the South African Sugarcane Research Institute to release bio control agents on both rivers once the clearing projects are complete, to combat the resurgence of these aquatic floating weeds.
Toti Conservancy has also begun a long and complex situation assessment and drafting process that will eventually lead to a formal river management plan for Toti River. However, this draft plan must be submitted to and approved by Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife and the Department of Environmental Affairs.
The Army Saints are back in action this weekend. Meet at Ollies on Sunday at 10am.
