Durban SA Water Supply Turning Into Gigantic Algae Pool; Toxic Species Abundant

A growing torrent of sewage and industrial waste is fouling up KwaZulu-Natal’s water supplies, with the result that water quality in several rivers and dams is now classified as “poor” or “unsatisfactory”. Inanda Dam, Durban’s main source of drinking water, is also starting to turn into a green soup of algae and chlorophyll – including toxic species that are harmful to health and therefore push up the costs of purification.

Some of the problems at Inanda have been blamed on regular sewage overflows from overloaded and neglected treatment works in the cash-strapped Msunduzi municipality, and there are fears that Inanda Dam could degenerate to the same extent as Gauteng’s heavily polluted Hartebeespoort Dam. While millions of rand are being spent on rehabilitation, experts fear it will take several decades for that dam to recover.

The increasing load of pollution from industry and residential areas is adding to the problem across the province, and two waste-recycling companies in Cato Ridge have recently been fined for polluting soil and a nearby wetland.

Chris Fennemore, of eThekwini’s water pollution and environment branch, said the owners of the Metsep waste-acid factory and the Oilshore waste-oil processing plant in Cato Zulu Industrial Park had been fined. The Water Affairs Department is also considering further action after inspectors visited the Oilshore site last month and found it to be “an enormous mess”.

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http://www.themercury.co.za/kzn-water-turning-into-green-algae-soup-1.1025961