The South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) visited Wemmer Pan on February 15 after receiving a complaint about the pollution and the stench coming from the lake.
With the recent rains, more trash and sewage spilt into the lake leading to a higher than usual E.coli level.
Two years ago all the grass carps in the lake died due to a similar problem.
Rod MacKinnon, the chairperson of the Wemmer Pan Rowing Club, said: “This problem is an unknown one that has surfaced in the last few years. Two years ago we had an incident where all the grass carps in the lake died.
“So far this year we had to cancel two junior regattas due to the high level of E.coli. The stench has only been here for the last four months and it’s starting to affect business surrounding the lake as well.”
Mackinnon also tested the water and found apart from the sewage and trash in the pan there was also traces of mining acid as well as industrial waste that ended up in the lake.
All these factors combined give the lake an unhealthy amount of metals that are dangerous for a human to ingest.
Buang Jones, provincial manager for SAHRC, said: “It’s time to start working with the business sector to ensure that this doesn’t happen again. We will arrange a meeting between ourselves, the City of Johannesburg (CoJ) and all the stakeholders at Wemmer Pan to start planning on a way forward.
“We will work in conjunction with various law enforcement departments to ensure that any business found polluting the lake are persecuted to the full force of the law. This is on the verge of turning into a natural disaster.”
When the COURIER visited the lake on Tuesday, no signs were seen warning anyone of the pollution and the E.coli in the lake.
SAHRC will test the water.
The COURIER has also sent a media enquiry to the CoJ around the issues at Wemmer Pan but no feedback has been forthcoming by the time of publication.
Comment from CoJ will be published as soon as it is received.
