Is sewage leaking into rivers?

GEORGE NEWS - Pressure has been mounting on the George Municipality to investigate whether the main sewerage pipe from Heatherlands to Kraaibosch has been leaking sewage into the Mitchell and Kat rivers for many months.

Rising concern prompted a Denneoord father, Howard Ogilvie, to warn parents to keep their children away from the two rivers.

The worried father said this week, "I have stopped my children from playing near the river.

"Our little Eden is being ruined by the smell of sewage. Denying that there is a problem will not make it go away."

E. coli counts
Two water samples showing contamination with E. coli were sent to the George Municipality for comment two weeks ago and a response is still awaited.

In the hope of expediting the issue, Afriforum member Tinus Nortjé took Deputy Mayor Gerrit Pretorius to the areas of concern a forthnight ago.

Pretorius, accompanied by two councillor colleagues and senior municipal officials, were taken to two trouble spots - one of them near the Denneoord home of Dawn Whitehead in Madeliefie Street, where Nortjé pointed out the unmistakable smell of sewage in the Mitchell River.

Afriforum, the civil rights organisation of which Tinus Nortjé (right), is a member, has been applying pressure on the George Municipality to do something about the sewage pollution as well as the blue gums and black wattles blocking the river.

E. coli presence
The results of two water river test samples taken from the Mitchell River (a stream which runs into the Kat River in Denneoord) showing readings of 38 000 and 27 000 E. coli (count per 100ml) were also sent to Eden District Municipality, the Western Cape Department of Water Affairs and the Western Cape Department of Environmental Affairs for comment.

According to Eden Wildlife and Environment Society of SA (Wessa) chairman Claude Marechal, the results reveal readings way over the limit allowed for recreation.

Nortjé issued a warning to parents not to allow their children to swim or go near the Mitchell and Kat rivers which meander through Denneoord, Bergsig and Eden before running into the Garden Route Dam, which is George's main water supply.

Despondent
In the George Herald edition of 9 September, the extreme distress of Whitehead, who lives near the banks of the river, was highlighted.

Since far back as May this year the worried mother has been reminding the George Municipality of the severe pollution problems experienced along the river.

But until last week, the municipality has kept on denying that there is a health risk for the entire river system - even after being confronted with the river sample analysis done by an independent laboratory and another done by their own laboratory.

On 4 October, while her husband Denver Whitehead was clearing the overgrown riverbanks of invasive alien trees (two of which fell on their roof earlier this year), he contracted a severe case of septicemia (blood poisoning due to a bacterial infection) which required a course of injections and ran up a hefty medication bill.

Monthly monitoring required
Nortjé, who alerted Afriforum in Pretoria of the situation this week, said, "We are going to try and monitor the river on a monthly basis."

In September, the chairman of Wessa, Claude Marechal, appealed to the mayor of George Melvin Naik to address the issue of water pollution, and the fire hazard that overgrown alien invasive trees are causing on the doorstep of Denneoord.

Naik responded with a promise to address the alien vegetation matter but denied the pollution situation. Wessa now also wants to monitor the river.

Reply
In a reply to an enquiry, George Municipality Director: Community Services Walter Hendricks said on Wednesday 15 November, "George Municipality is in the process of procuring a chipper to address the issue in Madeliefie Street.