DURBAN - UMGENI Water says water from the Henley Dam in Pietermaritzburg is being released into the Msunduzi River for the purposes of flushing the river after tests revealed a high “pollution load”.
The water authority said it had resolved to release water from the dam as this would drastically improve the water quality in the river.
This comes as the Dusi Canoe Marathon is expected to start today.
Umgeni Water spokesperson Shami Harichunder said the most recent sampling was done on Sunday and Monday this week.
He said sampling took place jointly with the Duzi-Umngeni Conservation Trust and the results have since been shared with race organisers.
“As was expected, due to the heavy rains of January, some rain earlier this week and broken or blocked sewer problems in the Pietermaritzburg region, pollution load remains high.
“The analysis shows various degrees of E coli presence. (E coli is used as an overall indicator of faecal and related-contamination),” he said.
He said Umgeni Water had begun water releases from Henley Dam as part of its efforts to assist paddlers taking part in the Dusi Canoe Marathon.
“Releases from upstream Henley Dam (this dam has been decommissioned) have the effect of flushing the Msunduzi River system with better quality water, as well as providing the water needed for good paddling,” said Harichunder.
He said the releases from Henley Dam will last 24 hours and are scheduled to end this morning.
He said with the inclusion of the 11 additional non-routine evaluation sites in the monitoring programme in the Msunduzi River catchment, this meant that assessment of water quality in the run-up to the marathon had been intensified.
Dave MacLeod, speaking on behalf of the Dusi organisers, said it was all systems go, but they were expecting water tests late yesterday and if there were concerns, the instructions would be given to the athletes this morning.
He said the water was being tested every day and the E coli levels had been going down and at the moment it was safe for the marathon.
“The only concern is if there is a storm tonight (Wednesday) and there is water run-off, but if there is a storm, tests will be done immediately after,” he said.
MacLeod said due to the testing being carried out, the areas where the river was being polluted by sewer leaks had been identified and fixed.
“There were about 90 sites that had been identified and about 70 of them have been fixed completely.”
He said the sites had been identified due to the vigilant testing of all sections of the river.
“The guys would test one site and found it normal and a few metres down they would test again and found the reading to be double that of the previous site and that would clearly show that there is a problem,” he said.
He said the Msunduzi Municipality had also shown interest in curbing the pollution.
“I think the mayor, Mzimkhulu Thebolla himself, came down here (after they were alerted to concerns about pollution).”
THE MERCURY