BRITS POS – BRITS - Magalies Water has been appointed by the Department of Water and Sanitation (DWS) to act as an implementing Agent (IA) for the remediation of Hartbeespoort Dam and upper catchment of the Crocodile West.
The main quest is to improve the water quality for all the water users. The plan is explicitly tailored to address specific needs of the dam and its feeding tributaries. The nine pillared turn-around strategy was crafted to focus on the management of water resources from the upstream of the dam for the benefit of everyone.
Through investigations, Magalies Water is cognizant of the fact that the problem is upstream - in neighbouring Gauteng, where incidents of effluent discharges, have been recorded.
Magalies Water has appointed a service provider - Hya-Matla Organics, for the removal of floating plants. The team enacted a hybrid approach that comprise mechanical and manual harvesting of floating plants and debris. The service provider has been onsite since September and they managed to maintain <20% of the dam coverage and we are currently sitting at 12% coverage as of the beginning of December.
Dam coverage is assessed using earth observatory tools such as remote sensing and photogrammetry tools along with field observations. The lock and harvest technique are the modus operandi. Operations has been intensified by adding an extra harvester and appointing over 60 qualified personnel, as part of beneficiation and job creation.
Some of the key milestones to date include:
Production of fertilizers from the harvested hyacinth to feed local economies through a waste valorisation initiative hence enhancing the issue of food security and waste beneficiation.
Appointment of Blue Planet SA to assist with nanobubbles. The service provider has been onsite since October and this will assist in retarding the growth of aquatic plants, sequestration of nutrients, oxidation of chemical species, and water disinfection.
Appointment of service provider for installation of nets in the in-let of Crocodile and Magalies river has been concluded.
Source tracking, pollutants fingerprinting, and temporospatial migration of contaminants in tributaries until the dam was concluded. In particular, elevated levels of microbial contaminants and nutrients are the main culprits into the quality of water in Hartbeespoort dam. Since our intervention, the quality of water has improved.
The team is optimistic of the progress to data, and they are confident that the adaptive integrated water resource management plan will turn around the prevailing calamity at Hartbeespoort dam.
