Swem Verbode

For many years, a stream that runs through my neighbourhood, was an open sewer. Sewerage would run unabated for months before anyone would fix it. The stream itself is the source of the Crocodile River and comes out of the rocks at 3 springs in Breaunanda before cutting through what is known as the deepest gorge in Gauteng before plunging over the waterfall at the Walter Sisulu Botanical Gardens. 

The probem is that the stream forms the border between Roodepoort and Krugersdorp hence no one wants to take responsibility for the upkeep. Just below the gorge is a park that used to have a lapa but that was pulled down by the municipality due to druggies that abused the facility. I was told that there was lovely walkways and bridges across the stream here at the lapa. Sounds lovely but all that remains is this sign, what is left of it.

Surely this is a sign that nature is fighting back. All that can be read of the sign is "Water Besld... Swem Verbode Notice Water Polluted..." I assume "No Swimming" was below that.

There are no fish in this stream, and I was told this is due to a chemical spill at the Plascon paint factory that is upstream on the Krugersdorp side a few years early.

Now for the GOOD NEWS. For over a year now this stream has been free of pollution and has been mentioned in an Gauteng Government report as the cleanest river in the province. The secret to our success is the people on the ground who are willing to make a difference. 

We have a testing station at the Botanical Gardens, here the staff use an oxygen meter to test the water daily. The results are then posted on a WhatsApp group that has all the decision makers from both Mogale City and City of Johannesburg on. If the oxygen in the water drops below a certain mark, then members of the Roodekrans Neighbourhood Watch, go out and search for the most likely cause which is normally a sewerage leak. They then post where the leak is on the group and then the relevant people at both municipalities jump into action and the spill is fixed.

This has been in most cases less than 6 hours even on weekends which has lead to this stream getting cleaner and cleaner. So much so that plans are been set up to restock the stream with fish. In my opinion, maybe if Plascon is reading this they should help sponsor the restocking of the fish as any good neighbour would. If any readers want to help, either make contact with Andrew Hankey from the Bot Gardens or Andreas Oberlechner from the Roodekrans Neighbourhood Watch.

Back to the sign in the tree. It is good to get nature back into our neighbourhoods and signs like this will all be but a distant memory.