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.

Kevin Winter responds:

The Editor

Cape Times

Dear Sir / Madam

Cleaning up the City’s rivers

The Friends of the Liesbeek welcomes the Mayor’s announcement to establish a river cleaning programme (Thursday 20 October). It’s about time! Citizens, whether living in the leafy suburbs or polluted canals in Khayalitsha, are desperate for a breath of fresh political will to address decades of abuse and neglect of the City’s waterways. This kind of programme deserves broad support. We want to see a host of ‘willing to work’ people safely removing years of accumulated litter and discarded junk that fills our rivers. A clean-up will definitely help, but it will also be an exercise in futility if the root cause of the problem is not addressed. The really hard nut to crack lies in water quality and quantity. Bad planning and ineffective management have altered our catchments and left rivers with flows that are putrid in summer and scary in winter. If the programme is to do credit to Kadar Asmal’s thinking and approach to water resource management, then it needs to address these difficult issues too.

Over the last 20 years the Friends of the Liesbeek have been trying to do exactly what this programme is proposing: cleaning, planting and improving the river, and much more. It therefore came as a surprise to us that the City intends to introduce a programme that even includes the Liesbeek. The consultation is missing, but hopefully not lost. We can show how our Maintenance Project involves a planned and supervised activity operating in a complex river environment, and includes efforts to contribute to the skills and capacity of the workers on the team. We hope that the initiative will strengthen our existing programme rather than compete against the good work that has been done over many years.

Kevin Winter

Friends of the Liesbeek

In addition to the traditional categories (open, handicap and community) and the SABAP2 category for the avid committed birders/atlasers, there is also the Garden Bird category. All you need to do is spend a minimum of one uninterrupted hour of observation making a list of the birds that visit your garden.

You can do your BBD survey on 26 Nov. and/or any day during the week leading up to BBD (i.e. 19-25 Nov.). This year, all BBD Garden Bird lists will be curated through the MyBirdPatch website which will generate some valuable data to the MyBirdPatch database plus hopefully add some more active participants to the project. You can also record birds from a registered MyBirdPatch site or a new site which you may consider doing for BBD.

BirdLife South Africa have published a media release about the event – you can view it on the BLSA website (www.birdlife.org.za). Follow the link “Media Release” on the left hand menu or the link lower down on the first page.

Another Clean-up will take place at Observatory from 9h00.

Heritage  Day 24^th September

Birdwatching at the Observatory Hide

The Friends of the Liesbeek will be meeting  on Saturday 24^th September at the gate at the South African Astronomical Observatory at 17h00 for an outing to the bird hide on the Raapenberg Wetland. We will also launch our participation in the MyBirdPatch Facebook  page. This is a virtual atlas where everyone can log on, ask questions and note the birds found in their backyards, and is coordinated by Les Underhill from the ADU at UCT. For more information see  http://mybirdpatch.adu.org.za/.

The Friends of the Liesbeek committee has participated in this process. Of interest to us are the regulations concerning the 50- and 100-year floodlines, and the restrictions concerning activities within these lines.  We are also concerned with urban densification occurring in the catchment areas of the Liesbeek, for example the proposed Fernwood development off Paradise Road. Hardening of surfaces causes added run-off and increases the water flow in the Liesbeek considerably. We also need to be aware of the proposed development of the Newlands Swimming Pool and motivate for the setting back of any structures from the river bank. These and numerous other issues can be raised in your comments on the Plans.

On the basis of the public comments received, the City has finalised the Cape Town Spatial Development Framework (CTSDF) and is in the process of submitting this to the Provincial Government: Western Cape for approval.

The revised draft District Plans technical reports and summary brochures, including a summary of the public comments received on the first drafts and the City’s response to these, are available for public inspection at your local library, subcouncil office and your Planning & Building Development Management district office.  The summary brochure is available in English and Xhosa/Afrikaans. You can also find this information and more background and supporting information at www.capetown.gov.za/en/sdfhttp://www.capetown.gov.za/en/sdf or by phoning 021 400 9412.

If you have any questions or comments on the final drafts of these District Plans for Cape Town please e-mail to:  futurecapetown@capetown.gov.za
or send a fax to:  021 425 6495
or write to:  PO Box 4511, Cape Town 8000

The closing date for comment is 30 June 2011.

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!

Fig. Team cutting the reeds.

Fig. Team varnishing the hide.

From May 2011 monthly bird counts will be conducted at Raapenberg, the Liesbeek and other surrounding wetlands. If you would like to join us for these counts please contact James Cooper no: (021) 700 1843 or 078 031 6749. Arrangements for groups to visit the hide can also be made, groups may not be larger than 20 people and arrangements must be made at least two weeks in adnavce.

From the 9 – 11 February 2011 the Liesbeek Maintenance Project Team attended a herbicide application course facilitated by Invader Plant Specialist cc at the Environment Centre situated in Valkenberg Hospital. The South African National Biodiversity Institute (SANBI), who has been working with the Maintenance Project on the control of Purple Loosestrife, kindly covered the costs of the course and provided catering for the three days.

During the course the team learnt about different herbicides, their active ingredients, mixing ratios, methods of application, target species, plant transport systems and health and safety regulations while applying herbicide. All team members, who thoroughly enjoyed the course, passed with flying colours and are now qualified to legally apply herbicide to alien invasive plants found on the Liesbeek. Well done guys.

This will increase the scope of work the team can achieve on the river and will provide them with future job opportunities. Huge thanks to Ernita Van Wyk (SANBI) for organising the course and for the continuous support of the Maintenance Project. We look forward to the partnership with SANBI growing in the future.

Figure from left to right: Malibonwe Mzinanda, Mneceleli Klaas, Ntobeko Dyani, Sivuyile Zwide and David Nyalethele receiving their certificates.