Archive for the ‘Environment’ Category
Talk at WESSA on the Cape Clawless Otter on 19th April
Thursday, April 12th, 2012
Water Quality and SASS
Thursday, January 19th, 2012The health of a river is often determined by the quality of the water that flows along its course. Due to differences in geology and vegetation, rivers around the country vary with regards to what is termed “healthy”. For example rivers in the Western Cape tend to have a lower pH (more acidic) than rivers up country. To account for these differences in the chemical characteristics of rivers around the country, scientists have developed the South African Scoring System (SASS). (more…)
Removing alien trees along our river
Wednesday, January 11th, 2012For most of us the sight of lush green-leafed tress hanging over a gentle flowing river, invokes a sense of serenity and calm. However, it is true what they say, that “too much of a good thing is bad”, and this is exactly the case of the trees along the Liesbeek River. To be more specific we are talking about the alien trees along the Liesbeek, of which there are many. Alien trees by simple definition, are trees that do not originally occur within a specific geographical area and here in lies their success. They are able to out-compete our own native species because they might be better suited to the environment (e.g. fast growing) and they also have no competition or predation. Within the Western Cape, the majority of alien trees mostly originate from Europe and parts of Australia where water is readily available throughout the year. (more…)
Friends keep Liesbeeck River pretty for 20 years
Monday, November 7th, 2011This article was presented in the Tatler on 3 November – download the original pdf here (2MB). TATLER.pg4_3_nov_2011 – Southern Suburbs Tatler, Cape Community Newspapers, Independent Newspapers (Cape)
A group of individuals 20 years ago changed the course of the Liesbeeck River after the formation of the Friends of the Liesbeeck, under the auspices of the Wildlife and Environment Society of South Africa (WESSA).
“Our founder members met with the intention of raising awareness of the value of the Liesbeeck River, with a long-term vision of a restored river and its surrounding environment,” says secretary of the Friends group, Francine Becker. (more…)
News from the City: Project to clean up city rivers gets afloat
Saturday, October 22nd, 2011The Cape Times ran the following article on October 20 2011 at 11:35am
Project to clean up city rivers gets afloat
Babalo Ndenze
Metro Writer
THE city council has employed 400 people to clean 14 of its most polluted rivers as part of a programme named after the late ANC stalwart Kader Asmal.
Yesterday mayor Patricia de Lille announced the river cleaning programme in honour of Asmal, who first identified the need for such an initiative to ensure a clean water supply.
The announcement was attended by Asmal’s widow, Louise.
The river cleaning is to be part of the Mayor’s Special Job Creation Project, announced by De Lille last month. Read the full article City River Project
What do you think?
See FoL committee member Kevin Winter’s response below. (more…)
26th Annual International Coastal Cleanup Saturday
Saturday, September 17th, 2011Friends of the Liesbeek joined staff from the Plastics Federation in cleaning a stretch of beach outside the Lagoon Beach Hotel in Milnerton. Chester and Clemecia from Nature Conservation joined me as we did our little bit to help clean the oceans. I did not see or meet any other Friends at the beach so if you were there post a comment!
The event is organised by the Oceans Conservancy. Some pictures follow. (more…)
More on SUDS
Friday, May 27th, 2011Professor Neil Armitage’s talk on SUDS (Sustainable Urban Drainage Systems) raised so many important points that I want to expand on the topic. In the UK much research has been done, and one very interesting report available on the Internet is the CIRIA report on social impacts of SUDS (http://www.ciria.org.uk/suds/pdf/social_impact_summary.pdf).
They found that new and innovative drainage technologies must be designed to be accepted by the public. Poor public perception of SUDS may be a deterrent for developers in using them at new sites, as it can negatively influence buyers’ decisions to acquire property within the development. In contrast, positive attitudes towards SUDS can attract house-buyers and raise property values in developments where these systems are applied. The report stressed that unlike conventional drainage, SUDS are likely to form part of public open spaces. This promotes interaction between communities and their local environment and can also result in amenity benefits.
The report used a survey questionnaire to determine what people who lived near SUDS sites thought about the systems. Contrary to US results, people in the UK survey (92%) were aware of how their actions influenced catchment pollution, but there was a lack of awareness of SUDS specifically. People were more positive about ponds than swales, stating that “the attraction of wildlifento the ponds, the increase in the amenity and recreational value of the surrounding areas, the improvement of the landscape, and the environmental nature of the drainage methods, all played an important role in achieving positive attitudes towards the systems.” The people in the survey all thought busy roads were more of a danger than a pond, and a pond was considered safer than a river or a landfill. They understood the benefits of SUDS in reducing flood risk, and how SUDS generally improved the landscape.
The recommendations the report makes can be applied to the Liesbeek. People wanted ponds or in our case the river itself, to be as “natural” as possible, with planting of native species on the banks and slopes. The slopes should be gentle and deep water signs should be used. Benches should be introduced and picnic tables, walkways and children’s play areas considered. Land based and aquatic species should be encouraged to colonise the system. Litter and silt removal programmes should be given a high priority and clearing of inlets and outlets should be regularly undertaken. Marginal vegetation should be maintained. The report suggests that educational campaigns should be set up for local communities and interpretation boards should be introduced. These all have been recognised to be important on the Liesbeek, it only needs time and effort to implement – the Friends of the Liesbeek are definitely on the right track!
Liesbeek Mud Pollution
Sunday, April 24th, 2011How does this…………………………………………………….
get into the Liesbeek?
The reality is that the storm water drains vent into the Liesbeek and for a long time city engineers have treated the Liesbeek as a storm water drain itself, opting to canalise and channelise the river over a large part of its course.
On 26th March, 2011, a concerned member of the public who had noticed that the river was running brown and murky at Kildare Road Bridge, reported the problem to the city but it was only much later, when the source of the pollution was found, that the problem was addressed.
James Cooper, Friends of the Liesbeek River Warden, along with City officials, discovered that a developer working on a building site on Herschel Close had been pumping mud straight from the building site into the street, to flow down the gutter into the storm water drain.
When we checked on 11th April the damage was already extensive as the storm water drain had still been used to dispose of the mud until 7th April . Under Kildare Bridge, where the storm water drain vents, a layer of mud about 30cm deep was covering the river bed. A mini SASS survey done on 11th April revealed that effectively all life had been smothered in the thick mud, in contrast to the abundant small animals present just metres further upstream and further downstream.
Now the problem was to get the mud removed. What was complicated about simply removing the mud? As we have come to realise, nothing is simple, and here we were faced with what the developer, the city departments and even government bodies saw as needed to be done – mostly in terms of paper being pushed around – before any work could commence.
We held our breaths while a light rain fell on 20th April, washing some mud downstream. Luckily Thursday remained dry and finally pumping could start. It was hoped that the procedure would be completed by Saturday 23rd April without too much mud floating downstream. It has rained again on Sunday and we would appreciate any feedback on mud being washed downstream.
It took almost a month before the pollution was stopped and remedied – is this acceptable? What if the mud was contaminated? Residents walk along the Liesbeek every day, their dogs often enter the water, and it is difficult to keep children out of the enticing shallows. There are a large number of homeless people living on the Liesbeek, for better or worse, and they use the Liesbeek for their ablutions. Homeowners and businesses also pump water from the Liesbeek to water their gardens – they run a serious risk if the water is polluted.
It is very important that the City, under whose responsibility the Liesbeek falls, should have a prompt and effective disaster response plan in place that is well advertised and in working order. The Friends of the Liesbeek urge all residents to demand this.
Kevin talks to 567’s John Maytham
Friday, May 28th, 2010FOL Chair and one of 4 intrepid Peninsula Paddlers talked briefly to John Maytham on Cape Talk 567 recently.
Here what he had to say. The MP3 file will play (stream) in the player below and is about 6MB in size for those with limited bandwidth.
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