Blesbokspruit gets too much water

Blesbokspruit is getting far too much water than it is supposed to handle.

This was one of the remarks of Stan Madden, an environmentalist who has worked in this wetland for over 30 years.

He, together with Ron and Mary Burrows, took the Addie on a tour of this spruit. All three are members of Marievale Wildlife and Environment Society of South Africa (WESSA).

The tour started at Marievale Bird Sanctuary, where we went to the Marievale picnic spot and braai area, as well as some of the bird hides.

Then the group went to the old Anglo-owned ground that is currently under Gauteng province’s management where illegal miners allegedly search for gold.

The tour then crossed the bridge on the N17 at Schoemans’ farm to learn about private land owners’ continual war with the reeds.

After that Madden also pointed out the ‘sacrifcial zone’ where underground mine water used to be pumped into Blesbokspruit.

The day ended at the Grootvaly Wetland Reserve off Welgedacht Road, where the group was confronted with the fact that the reserve’s palisade fence had been stolen. This apparently was not the first time.

Madden explained Blesbokspruit used to be a seasonal river that dried up during the dry winter season. The area is currently overgrown with reeds of all sorts, where in the 1980s it used to be grassland.

Because of mining and other industries that came to the area and Gauteng, the spruit changed so much over the years that it is now a series of dams that never run dry. This increase in water volume has caused a serious imbalance to the waterways of Blesbokspruit.

The water is not very deep. Madden estimates it to be an average of about 60cm deep and you can walk through it. There is also a lot of mud on the bottom.

What makes conditions worse around these dams is the different type of reeds that overgrow the wetland and encroach on the original grassland of the area.

Madden was especially worried about the neglect and overgrowth of the reeds of the old mining area that had been incorporated into Blesbokspruit.

The Marievale and Grootvaly areas are well-managed, but also fight against the massive reed infestation.

Madden explained because of water being discharged by several downstream industries, the water running in the spruit had a high nutrient content, giving the plants ‘food’. “It is like giving your lawn fertiliser and hoping it doesn’t grow,” he explained.

Water with all types of ingredients flow from many avenues to fill up this wetland. The spruit, according to Madden, is currently better off than two-and-a-half years ago when mine water was still pumped into it.

Madden felt the quality of the treated sewage water coming from Welgedacht Waste Water Works that was recently tested by AfriForum was nothing compared with some of the other water this spruit gets on a daily basis.

Blesbokspruit has two places of origin, Jet Park an industrial area in Kempton Park and the other one north of Bapsfontein. It converges shortly before Welgedacht Road where the spruit flows through the Grootvaly Wetland Reserve, Marievale and Suikerbosrand until it eventually ends in the Vaal River.

The whole reserve is about 1 000ha. It spans over 22km between the R22 and R555 and is about 7km wide.

The whole area had been a Ramsar site since October 2, 1986.

The website www.ramsar.org explained the Convention on Wetlands, made at Ramsar, Iran in 1971, is an intergovernmental treaty that embodies the commitments of its member countries to maintain the ecological character of their wetlands of international importance. They also plan for the ‘wise use’, or sustainable use, of all of the wetlands in their territories.

The Convention on Wetlands came into force for South Africa on 21 December 1975. South Africa presently has 21 sites designated as wetlands of international importance with a surface area of 554,136 hectares.

Blesbokspruit has several bird hides at Marievale and Grootvaly for viewing the over 230 species of birds. There are also small mammals and game like reed buck, black-backed jackal, Cape clawless otter, two types of mongoose, hares and porcupines to view in the park.

Madden said the future of Blesbokspruit depended on how effective this wetland ecology would be managed by all parties responsible for it.