Strong support for estuary care forum
130 people pack town hall to attend AGM
“Like Moses and the rock,” is how Chester Wilmot describes the Bushman’s River Mouth and Kenton communities. Wilmot is chair of the Boesmans-Kariega Estuary Care Management Forum and if you suspected an organisation with a long, technical sounding name like that might attract two, possibly three environerds to its AGM, you’d be very wrong.
Around 130 people from both communities packed the newly renovated Boesmansriviermond town hall on Friday December 22.
Wilmot said the plan for 2024 was to continue and strengthen the organisation’s work by engaging the community even more.
“There’s something about Kenton and Bushmans that makes you keep coming back,” Wilmot said. “We want to encourage community members to think what it is about this environment that makes it special and what you they can do to maintain it.
“We believe that collectively we can make Kenton/Bushmans a place of excellence,” Wilmot said, emphasising that the organisation sought to work with local government and other authorities.
Kenton has two Blue Flag beaches and the organisation is acutely aware how important the health of the river is to maintaining that status. Possible pollution threats to the microbial health of both rivers are leakage from the municipal sewage works and privately built and owned septic tanks.
One of the solutions being investigated to the latter was having two or three households clubbing together to put in a medium sized biodigester to process sewage on site.
“If we lost our Blue Flag status in Kenton there would be
an exodus,” Wilmot said.
The silting up of channels in the rivers was a concern, both for the area’s ecology and the safety of boats.
Invasive aliens are also a threat to estuarine health and Estuary Care has tackled this problem head-on, with teams of volunteers stepping up for alien hacks to clear tow paths, access paths and common areas.
“Estuaries are the lifeblood of the area,” said portfolio chair Jacques de Witt. Controlling and managing them meant ensuring the health of the environment on the one hand, and responsible use, on the other.
Under the National Environmental Integrated Coastal Management Act, consultants had drawn up a plan for the Kowie River at the cost of around R1m; however, no plan had been drawn up for Bushmans and Kariega. De Witt said the municipality was exploring how to address this.
De Witt summarised several factors affecting the wellness of the estuary:
Effluent
Referring to the Bushmans reverse osmosis plant as a water factory (“a dirty factory”) he said Estuary Care was working with
DWS, Amatola Water and Ndlambe Municipality to address issues arising from a social and environmental report. The Albany Coast blue drop score for drinking water for 2023 was 57.27%.
Sanitation
Together with other civil society groups in the area, Estuary Care was engaging with Ndlambe Municipality and the DWS to address adverse green drop scores for waste water affecting Bushmans River Mouth and Kenton-on-Sea (as well as Alexandria, Bathurst, Rosehill Mall and Port Alfred).
De Witt said Estuary Care was concerned about the status of sewage pump stations along the Bushmans River.
De Witt emphasised it was important to put on the municipality’s annual planning agenda the cleaning of river banks, the development of land and land use and the monitoring of factors detrimental to the estuary’s health (sedimentation siltation, e.coli and so on).
An estuary management plan must be part of the IDP, which would mean it would be budgeted for.
On a positive note, the reverse osmosis plant’s clean-inplace
systems were no longer being released into the river.
Noise pollution from the “water factory” was also a concern.
Use of the estuary
Dave Curran said the mass pumping and selling of prawn bait was a concern, and with only one official from the Fish River to the Sundays River to monitor compliance, it had to become a community matter.
“If a person wants prawn bait they should pump it themselves. The community needs to make it known that they don’t approve of people pumping bait to sell, or the people buying it.”
In 2023, the Estuary Care team replaced channel markings, erecting 15 poles, 33 signs, and repairing or replacing jetties damaged in the September storm surge.
Curran expressed concern about increasing congestion on the rivers, with a seemingly unlimited number of boat moorings narrowing the channels for boats.
Inconsiderate or dangerous behaviour was a concern.
“It’s a small minority,” he said. “Maybe 2%. And it’ sa combination of youth, speed and alcohol.”
He said parents needed to be aware of what their children were doing.
The use and upkeep of boathouses, as well as demarcating special ski zones were among the priorities for 2024.
Nick Albrightson reported on the estuaries’ environmental health.
“We’ve been picking up rubbish to stop it landing in the estuary.”
The group had also carried out several alien hacks. One of the challenges was that many invasive species grew on private properties where people don’t live permanently.
“We need to come up with strategies to engage with private owners and developers clearing plots and preparing for builds,” he said.
They plan to put together an educational fact sheet of invasive aliens found in the area, and what to do about them.
Ted Gilfillan presented the organisation’s financial report and shared the news that the organisation was set to receive a donation from the Seagull Regatta fund.
Sand movement and dunes
The movement of sand on the coast was described in a detailed PowerPoint presentation.
The Westbourne Road parking lot, the high sand dune separating it from Dry Bones Valley, and the valley itself have been a concern of the organisation for several years and were discussed in the AGM.
Estuary Care remains concerned about the issue and Talk of the Town will report on this further.
The Sunshine Coast and the Green Drop Report
No green drop full report was available at the time the 2023 blue drop report was released late last year.
The Green Drop Progress Assessment 2023 report focuses on wastewater treatment works (WWTWs). It found that 64% of SA’s WWTWs are at high or critical risk. The most recent full green drop report was published in May 2022 and documented sampling carried out in 2021.
So around three years ago, the WWTWs of Kenton-on-Sea, Alexandria, Bathurst and Rosehill Mall were reported as being of critical risk according to the report’s cumulative risk rating (CRR).
The WWTWs of Bushmans River Mouth and Port Alfred were at that time reported as being high risk (70-90% CRR).
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