Duzi - Umngeni Conservation Trust

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Sunday, 05 September 2010

ANNUAL CLEAN UP DAY

DUCT-HULAMIN COMMUNITY CLEAN UP DAY 2010

Our municipalities these days are under massive strain and are struggling to deliver essential services. We as rate payers can continue to moan and groan about this, or we could ask how we, the people who elected the municipalities, can help them to deliver and thus become more efficient. By doing small daily things, such as taking responsibility for ones own waste helps to lighten the burden placed on municipal services, which will allow them to spend their precious few resources in areas that will start to really enhance our towns and cities.

Litter pickers could become community gardeners and instead of spending tax payers money on picking rubbish off our streets, this money could be well spent on planting new community gardens and maintaining those already in existence. The common perception that by littering we are keeping someone in a job is a poor excuse. The money spent on employing someone to pick up our litter could rather be spent on building and maintenance of essential community resources such as upgrading of sewage and water treatment plants, so that contaminated water does not enter our sensitive river systems and when we open our taps at home clean water come out.

Another major problem is the solid waste that finds its way into our storm water and drainage systems. This waste causes blockages that are expensive and time consuming to fix, eating further into the municipalities already stretched budgets.

So, start by joining The Duzi-uMngeni Conservation Trust and other volunteers in your community on the 18 of September to clear up your city, your street, your pavement, your school and your yard. Approach your teachers, your community representatives, your sports clubs or your neighbours to spread the word and join a clean up team for the big day. Make sure you dispose of the waste you collect correctly and remember to recycle wherever possible. A large number of schools in the PMB and surrounding areas have already committed to the clean up day - get your school to take part and help make our city and our community a cleaner, litter free one. If you or your school would like to take part in the clean up day, please contact John or Caroline at DUCT on 033 345 7571. Alternatively, get your neighbours and community to simply clean up your own streets, neighbourhood, and pavements and nearby streams.

The clean up day is sponsored and made possible by Hulamin, and kindly supported by Stihl Howick.

Lastly, aim to reduce your waste footprint by purchasing products with minimal packaging and reusing whatever packaging you possibly can.

If all of us start to buy items that use minimal packaging, industry will adapt to this demand to ensure sales, so in the end it is up to us as individuals - the power is in our hands.

The below images illustrate what we together as a community can achieve. These photos show the waste and litter in our rivers, and these same rivers after the DUCT clean up day.

OUR RIVERS BEFORE AN ANNUAL CLEAN UP DAY:

OUR RIVERS AFTER AN ANNUAL CLEAN UP DAY:

DUCT NEWS: MAY 2010

DUCT NEWS: NATIONAL LOTTERIES GRANT

Yesterday our bank manager from Nedbank called with the news that R8 million had been deposited in the DUCT account.

No, this was not a mistake, but confirmation that DUCT has been successful with a proposal to the National Lottery Board for a three year River Care programme stretching from Maritzburg to Durban (not excluding Howick/Mpophomeni). The programme will directly employ up to 100 people, and will indirectly help to keep another five in full time or part time employment. In all, nine River Care Teams will be deployed, three in Pietermaritzburg, three in Durban, one in Howick and Mphophomeni, and two between Maritzburg and Durban. Each team will be allocated a specific stretch of river, and on this stretch their tasks will be:

<•>The removal and control of alien invasive vegetation (aquatic and terrestrial)
<•>The removal of trash (from the banks and the water) and, where possible, to prevent illegal dumping
<•>The regular inspection of sewer lines and stormwater discharge points, providing an early warning system for sewage spills and industrial spills

The proposal was submitted in July 2009, and it was a case of third time lucky as we have twice before submitted proposals to the Lottery Board without success. Thanks must go to Francois du Toit, the director of the Msunduzi Innovation and Development Initiative (MIDI), who spotted the proposal call, drew it to our attention, and encouraged us to put in a bold proposal. The total budget is R15.8 million over three years. We had our first inkling that we might be in with a chance in December 2009, when the Board came back to us with a request for more information. Two months ago we were sent a contract, but we did not want to make a public announcement until we had actually seen the money.

DUCT 100 CLUB

CONGRATULATIONS, and a very big thank you, to our first four DUCT 100 Club:

Antoinette Kriel
Andrew Lake
Merril King
Douglas Tatham

To join our Duct 100 club, please email Caroline on This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it .

Background to DUCT

The Duzi-uMngeni Conservation Trust (DUCT) is a non-profit public benefit organisation championing the environmental health of the uMsunduzi and uMngeni Rivers.

DUCT was established in 2005 by a working group concerned about the state of the uMsunduzi and uMngeni Rivers. In February 2006 the group formally registered DUCT as a Section 21 Company and employed a part-time manager.

The Mission:

To champion the environmental health of the uMsunduzi and uMngeni Rivers.

DUCT will continuously assess, monitor and implement various projects to enhance river health along the length of the uMsunduzi and UMngeni Rivers. By tackling issues around nine strategic areas, DUCT will improve the health of the rivers for paddlers, other recreational users, farmers and local communities who utilise the river on a daily basis.
The eight focus areas are:
* Solid waste (including plastic bags, bottles, tin cans, animal carcasses) that enters the rivers from a variety of sources including illegal dumping
* Faecal waste from broken and blocked sewers and areas under serviced
* Industrial pollution
* Invasive alien vegetation along the river banks
* Invasive alien vegetation in the water
* Bilharzia and other waterborne diseases
* Soil erosion and land degradation
* Monitoring sand winning operations
* Provision of water for the environment (environmental reserve)

Reporting Hotlines

Pietermaritzburg sewer faults should be reported all hours to the Water and Sanitation Department

at 033 392 5200.

If there is no answer there sewer faults can also be reported all hours to 033 392 5029/96/98 (Electricity Department) and 033 392 2364 (Fire Department).

DUCT is also happy to receive reports at 033 345 7571 and we will pass them on.

WATER QUALITY - 2010

	Quality Trend - uMsunduzi (PDF Download)		Quality Trend - Blue Lagoon (PDF Download)
	Pietermaritzburg - Latest Standard Data (PDF Download)

Note - Water Quality for races on the Duzi River

Water is always released from the Henley Dam for the canoe races in Pietermaritzburg. The quality of water released from Henley is typically very good (less than 500 E.coli per 100ml). As this is a higher flow than the flow in the river without the release, this Henley water does significantly improve the quality of the water that paddlers are exposed to.

Interpreting the results

If you are a microbiologist or a seasoned paddler the stats above might mean something to you… but if not, you might find the following table useful when trying to interpret what the E.coli count means for you as a paddler.

Paddling is defined as a secondary contact sport and internationally the accepted safe level is 2 000 E.coli per 100ml. However, on the uMsunduzi and uMngeni Rivers paddlers often paddle with higher E.coli levels without suffering any ill effects. In years when the quality of the Duzi has been 10 000 or lower, the incidence of “Duzi guts” during events such as the Dusi Canoe Marathon has been low. In years when it has been high (in the 20 000 to 100 000 range) due to major storms, the incidence of “Duzi guts” has been high (up to 50% of the paddlers being affected).

After consultation with Umgeni Water and Water Affairs scientists, DUCT recommends the following guidelines for paddlers:

E. coli count / 100 ml	Canoe use class
0 - 2000	Excellent
2001 - 5 000	Good
5 001 - 10 000	Acceptable
10 001 - 25 000	Tolerable
25 001 - 50 000	Poor
50 000 - 150 000	Unacceptable
>150 000	Dangerous

Thanks to Talbot Laboratories, Umgeni Water and WSP Environmental for monitoring the water quality in Durban and Pietermaritzburg on a weekly basis. DUCT does additional sampling at strategic times and places.

Campsdrift and Blue Lagoon data

Thanks to Talbot Laboratories and WSP Environmental for monitoring the water quality at Blue Lagoon and Campsdrift on a weekly basis. To see the results, click on the document below:

Quality Trend - Blue Lagoon and Campsdrift (PDF Download)