Wade in for water weeding this weekend
If anyone wants to help, meet at the river on Sunday at 9am.
With the heat of summer already upon us, water hyacinth and water lettuce has started clogging local rivers.
Heat plus the sewage constantly flushed into the rivers allows the hyacinth and lettuce to flourish.
Shaun Callaghan of Army Saints and Dave Koch, with help from like-minded volunteers, started clearing the Little Amanzimtoti River on Sunday, 18 October and will be back in action this weekend.
“It beat us last time, but it won’t this time around,” said Shaun.
Last year the Army Saints, a group of civic-minded volunteers, banded the comunity together to clean up the Toti River of litter and hyacinth. The river has since flourished in its rehabilitated state, with plenty of birdlife returning and the water being allowed to flow, leading to it breaching itself naturally more in the last 12 months than in previous years.
Hyacinth and lettuce has continued to flourish on the river and it requires a ongoing fight to keep it at bay.
With help from Barrett Neilson, who’s been instrumental in cleaning up the Subway, Shaun and Dave tackled the pesky water weeds on the Little Amanzimtoti River on board a flat-bottomed boat at the weekend.
“We have a second boat donated for this weekend, but we need a sneaker motor or a small horsepower motor to power it,” said Shaun.
“We are pushing the lettuce upstream to where it is shallow and then pulling it out. Toti Conservancy will then use it to rehabilitate the beach dunes. If anyone wants to help, meet at the river on Sunday at 9am. Bring plastic bags to pick up litter and waders or gumboots, as the water quality is disgusting.”
