Sewerage Flows into Botanical Gardens

We come a long way since we first started reporting about the raw sewerage that was flowing into the Walter Sisulu National Botanical Gardens. Sewerage leeks are inevitable in our aging sewer system and yet here we are, with the cleanest river in Gauteng. What are we doing to get here within 2 and a half short years? 

Well we have put in place an early warning system which measures the oxygen levels in the Bot Gardens, and we have a myriad of volunteers from both the Roodekrans Neighbourhood Watch and the Kenmare Kloof Conservation Association who actively seek out any leaks, which gets reported onto a WhatsApp group which has all the players who can spring into action to fix the problems. Thanks to Mogale City and to the City of Joburg who have representatives on the group who get things done, and not to leave out any of the other good people of that group. Thank you.

This afternoon I got a call from one of the Roodekrans Neighbourhood Watch members that they were told of a sewerage leak just above the gorge by the caretaker of the Manie Mulder Resort. So my son and I went looking for the leak and it didn't take long to discover the raw sewerage flowing into the stream in Breaunanda just upsteam from what is known as the deepest gorge in Gauteng.

Not long after posting a pin location of the leak onto the WhatsApp group, the local ward councillor for the area, Dr Andries Eksteen, phoned me. I know that Mogale City is on skeleton staff due to the summer holidays, but lets hope that it gets sorted out quickly.

Rocks in their Heads

A week back the Walter Sisulu National Botanical Gardens informed us that raw sewerage was flowing over the waterfall into the gardens below. Andreas went to inspect a previous problem area and sure enough there was a sewerage leak. The relevant officials were informed at the City of Johannesburg and they promised that it would be seen too.

But bad news kept coming in from the Botanical Gardens, the sewerage is continuing to flow into the gardens. To date the Department of Sanitation has NOT being able to reach the source of the sewerage leak due to the area being overgrown with brambles. This means sewerage has being flowing into Botanical Gardens now for over a week. This morning Andreas noticed sewerage further upstream from this leak so after phoning me, we planned a hike into the gorge this afternoon to search for the source of this spillage.

I can't get the horror of what we found out of my mind, a waterfall of pure $#!T was overflowing from a manhole and into the stream that runs through the gorge and down into the Botanical Gardens. How long has this waterfall of raw sewerage being flowing? On the video you can hear the water of sewerage which once you realise that it is not a lovely waterfall but pure filth, you just want to throw up. After an urgent message on our Conservation WhatsApp group with an location pin, Mogale City sprang into action and was there within the hour to unblock the sewer.

Wow I am very impressed with Mogale City as it was late Sunday afternoon yet they were ready to get their hands dirty and stop this waterfall of $#!T. The sad news is that it was discovered that someone had removed the manhole cover and filled the sewer with rocks. ROCKS? So someone deliberately blocked the sewer line and cause unimaginable damage to the environment. They must have rocks in their heads. Later on I was informed that blocking a sewer line in this manner was a common practice used to mine the waste for valuables that were flushed down the drain.

This area is vulnerable and needs to be protected at all costs.

New Sewerline

Sorry, I have been taking my daily photos but somehow life has sneaked up on me and my posts have sunk to the depths of the sewer. Taking about sewers, the new line is now completed with no leaks. Tomorrow the Rand Easter Show starts and I will be tired up for the next week. So these open trenches will have to stay open till next week.

Follow the Pipe

Eish, this is when I get soooo upset. When we bought the house just over a year ago, it came with plans of alterations done by the previous owner which are okay, but when you find out that plans were not followed which now cost you money, now that makes me very upset.

The plans required a new sewer line to be build to accommodate, what it calls to be a store room to be built over an existing sewerage line, unknown to us, the new sewer line was never built and the storage room become an office over an existing sewer line that I am sure was never even reinforced. Was there never an inspection done by the municipality? No wonder, since we moved in, we have had endless problems with the sewerage on this end of the building. 

This sewer line was constantly getting blocked, and when I got plumbers out yesterday for the umpteen time to unblock, they failed and said that the line must have collapsed. This morning I got the quotation and it is R12,000 to repair. Wow, at this moment in time I simply can not afford it but it needs to be fixed. So I went to price the materials needed and then hired some labourers to follow the sewer line from the kitchen. The cost of the materials needed is only R1,200. What were the plumbers smoking, a R10,000 labour charge for a 2 day job. 

We followed the pipe down until we discovered that it turned under the new section. It was then that I realised that this was the existing sewer line and the required new line was never built. Grhhh!

Ugly Duckling

For the last 2 weeks, the sewer has been overflowing on and off into Wilgerood Road opposite the Kloofendal Nature Reserve’s entrance. This raw sewerage then flowed into the storm water drains and into the stream that flowed down into the Little Falls Nature Reserve and through Muldersdrift before finally joining the Crocodile River.

The poor Crocodile River must be so polluted by now, with our sewerage leak down in the Witpoortjie Kloof that was finally sorted out in the beginning of this month. Then it is also the raw sewerage that is coming out of Pinehaven Estate, Mogale City. And now this!

Raw sewerage has being flowing into the Little Falls stream, on and off for the last 2 weeks. After numerous escalations to the Joburg Water and Sanitation, it was reported today that the problem was finally fixed, so I decided to go check for myself. And yes the sewer has stopped overflowing but for how long. Walking around the area of Kloofendal and Little Falls Nature Reserve I think I was more shocked to find that the area between the Kloofendal Nature Reserve’s main gate and the sewer leak has become a dumping ground for garden refuse, rubbish, and building materials. Eish!

I decided to make this polluted stream in Kloofendal my topic for today and to show were this stream flows into I decided to go to the other side of the Little Falls Nature Reserve, and show a photo of the waterfall that this raw sewerage is flowing over. Now that is when I discovered the Ugly Duckling, the Little Falls Resort.

Why call the Little Falls Resort, the ugly duckling, well compared to the Walter Sisulu Botanical Gardens with it’s bigger waterfall, the Little Falls is well just like the ugly duckling, all runned down and just a mess even the road up to the gate was shocking. Speaking with City of Johannesburg’s Sports and Recreation Department staff who look after the resort, they said that they have plans in place along with the little Falls Community to fix up the place, but with only 1 grounds man that seems nearly an impossible task.

They too have the same problems that we do here at the Witpoortjie Kloof, the church people coming for the holy sewerage, sleeping over night in the veldt, litter, snares, and the naked demon exorcisms but with this one luckily they have had no naked bodies being washed up compared with the 12 fatalities so far that we have had due to the exorcisms. They even pointed out the cliff face were 2 months ago they had a sewerage waterfall, double eish! The main pool was sparkling but up towards the waterfall was this mosquito cesspool.

The Mayor of the City of Johannesburg, Herman Mashaba, has just launched the AreSebetsebeng initiative which aims to do a monthly volunteer clean up the city. This needs to extend to the West Rand Ridge System which includes the Little Falls Resort and the Krans Alwyn Nature Trail which goes through the Witpoortjie Kloof. I believe the cleanup days are the last Saturdays of every month with the next one on the 30 September.

Would you believe it, that the City of Johannesburg has just won the award for the cleanest city in South Africa, really? Where did they hide this ugly duckling from the judges? The factors considered in the Greenest Municipality Competition included waste management; energy efficiency and conservation; water management; landscaping; and tree planting & beautification. So obvious they must have left out the West Rand.

But this is not just the City of Joburg's problem, this is our problem too, as stakeholders, we need to join the mayor and clean up our city, our neighbourhoods, and the especially the West Rand Ridge System; then maybe, just maybe this ugly duckling called Little Falls can become the beautiful swan it was meant to be.

This last photo shows the remains of the raw sewerage waterfall that poured down the cliffs into the Little Falls Resort, the sewerage was then carried by the stream into the already polluted Crocodile River.

Holy Sewerage

The title says it all, holy sewerage. A month ago I wrote about raw sewerage flowing into the stream that flows through the Walter Sisulu National Botanical Gardens and I also mentioned about the itinerants cutting down trees in the area.

The biggest problem is that this stream forms the boundary between 2 municipalities, Mogale City and City of Joburg which causes jurisdiction problems and this stream is very critical in terms of bio habitats as well as religiously. It is the source of the Crocodile River and the biodiversity in this area astoundingly exceeds all expectations for such a small area. Both my articles got a lot of exposure with the media getting hold of them. The first one even reached the desk of the mayor of Johannesburg, Herman Mashaba. It even got me into environmental circles that I would have never dreamed of being in. What next, I suppose next is Green Peace.

Firstly a report back on the raw sewerage. We were told by the council members and heads of sanitation of both Mogale City and City of Joburg that the leaks have been fixed. With a lot of people watching, Andreas Oberlechner, chair person of the Roodekrans Neighbourhood Watch organised a walk down into the kloof this morning hoping lots would attend since it being a public holiday. He invited all the necessary people along so that they can see for themselves the beauty of the Witpoortjie Kloof, which I am told that this kloof is called, and inspect the repair work. But sadly the offer was not taken up by many and only the Friends of Kloofendal and myself took up the offer.

Okay that was the bad news now for the good, the kloof is sewerage free, yay! All the leaks have been repaired and unblocked. New manhole covers have replaced the broken and missing. The broken sewer pipe has been repaired. Good news everywhere we checked. All we need now is some good rains to wash the residue build up away. Never has so much been done, so quickly by so few. Now for some more name dropping, thank you to the councillors Suzanne Clark and Antoinette Fourie from City of Joburg and Mogale City along with the respective environmental and water management teams for getting their hands dirty and fixing the environmental mess, South African Biodiversity Institute (SANBI), the community forums, environmental groups, and the media. A big thank you to all as no more raw sewerage is flowing into the National Botanical Gardens. We will keep monitoring the situation.

Now for the Holy part of my article today. Since it is a public holiday, pilgrims came flooding into the kloof to drink and fetch the holy water of the springs that are at the head of the kloof. Yes we have Holy Water flowing out of the rocks. Previously I thought it was just the Zion Christian Church (ZCC) coming down to the water but today my eyes were opened as I questioned a lot of the pilgrims. They were from all different types of faith, not only the ZCC but the apostolic faith churches, and even the Emmanuel Mission from Soweto were represented. I have seen the traditional healers, sangomas, and inyangas here too but not today.

This pilgrim just came out of the old flooded mineshaft fetching freezing cold Holy Water

Now I don’t mind the pilgrims because the water is for all South Africans, as long as we keep it clean. I must say that the pilgrims were very thankful that the sewerage spills had been fixed but my problem now is the amount of litter left down in the kloof, cutting down of indigenous trees for firewood, and the invasive alien plants.

As for the indigenous tree cutting, I even saw some pilgrims bringing in their own firewood from outside which is good, even better is to cut down all the invasive wattle trees. I asked about the litter and they fervently denied they were the culprits, but okay never mind who is doing it, let’s find a solution to clean it up and prevent it from happening. Another question which I never asked the pilgrims but voiced my concern with my fellow hikers, what about the pilgrims ablutions. Where do they go? In the holy waters?

We can only do this together. We need to work together with the pilgrims, the political parties in charge of Mogale City and City of Joburg, SANBI, the community forums, environmental groups, and the locals living in the area such as myself. We can do it. We can make this kloof along with its holy waters a place for all to come and find God in whatever form they believe even if their god is nature and mother earth.

Raw Sewerage into the Botanical Gardens

They say that the grass is greener on the other side but it is usually because it is over a septic tank. In this case it is not far from the truth.

I moved to the Roodekrans area of Johannesburg last year because of the beautiful views into the kloof above the Walter Sisulu National Botanical Gardens and the very rare flora that is found here and nowhere else. It was these wilds inside the city limits that attracted us to move here in the first place. Soon it became apparent that not all was rosy as it looked or smelled.

Soon after moving to Roodekrans, we found itinerants living up in the kloof, knowledge of which the estate agent and seller kindly hid from us. Some of these itinerants were religious people coming for the holy waters of the 3 springs that are the source of the stream which eventually becomes the Crocodile River. It is this stream which flows down the magnificent waterfall and through Botanical Gardens. Some itinerants are digging into the sides of the cliffs, for what we can only speculate as there is no gold in these hills so say the police to whom I report it to. All of them cut down the Protea trees for firewood and dig up medicinal plants in a protected biodiversity area that can’t be quickly replaced.

A lot of Johannesburg residents like myself are very proud of the Walter Sisulu National Botanical Gardens with its astonishing waterfall set in a stunning landscaped garden and not to forget the Black Eagles that nest there in the cliffs. Well sorry to burst that bubble as like the saying goes it is green because it is over a septic tank. Yes raw sewerage is flowing at a steady rate directly into the stream that flows through the Botanical Gardens.

Just under a month ago during a Joburg Photowalkers hike into the kloof above the Botanical Gardens, a raw sewerage leak flowing directly into the stream was discovered and duly reported to the City of Joburg, and today I was tasked to take a walk down into the kloof to see if anything has been done about the sewerage leak. What I was hoping to find was that the leaking sewer pipe had being repaired but sadly this was not the case as nothing had being done to rectify the leak. As you can see in the very top photo of this post, that the grass is very green grass by being fed from all the pollutants this has been going on for a very long time.

While we were down here in the kloof, we decided to walk up past the Manie Mulder Waterfall to check on the conditions further upstream and on the 3 springs which form the source of the stream. Along the way we saw itinerants living in hovels dug out into the sides of the cliffs and even had the pleasure of witnessing an exorcism of a demon possessed person in the stream by 2 priests. I kid you not. I did not take any photos of the exorcism but I asked a lot of questions about the plastic covered person standing naked in the stream.

At one of the springs, we sadly watched a woman with a baby on her back drink and collect holy water from the rubbish littered water source that was sweeping out of the rock cliffs. I have been told that these holy waters bring in bus loads of people and I wonder if polluted water have healing powers that I don't know about.

But the worst was yet to come. To our horror we found a major sewerage pipe blockage which was overflowing into the stream above the source where the woman and her baby were drinking from and where the demon exorcism was taking place. This sewerage was flowing at a steady pace down a small valley between Jarrah Street and Albida Place, Breaunanda, a suburb of Krugersdorp in Mogale City, into the small stream that then flows through the kloof, over 2 waterfalls and into the Botanical Gardens below before becoming the Crocodile River.

Forget exorcisms, tree cutting, and squatters, now I was so filled with mixed emotions, from anger to crying in shame for the human race. I could handle the religious fanatics even with their associated litter but the raw sewerage flowing into this beautiful kloof was the last straw. Time to make a stink about this, like that Aussie song How can we sleep when our beds are burning? The first raw sewerage leak was reported to the City of Joburg and yet nothing was done, this new bigger leak will be reported to Mogale City but unless we all make some noise, I expect nothing will be done.