Water, Water, Everywhere...

When Mad Max and I moved to Johannesburg in the 1990’s, Bruma Lake was ‘brand new’ and something that everyone wanted to experience. Much like the ‘brand new’ Gautrain that everyone and his brother is going for at least one ride on at present. ‘In the beginning’ Bruma Lake was actually quite a nice place, particularly at night, with lights from shops, hotels and offices reflecting off the water. Bruma Lake was supposed to be a boating lake but I don’t think that ever really took off. Built on the Jukskei River which is, in my opinion, a stream rather than a river, Bruma Lake’s popularity soon waned.

And, it seems, as its popularity waned so Bruma Lake’s problems increased. Or is it that is problems arose its popularity waned? How is it that a destination that was quite popular some two decades ago is now almost considered a no-go zone by most South Africans? Apart from the fact that drug dealers operate quite openly in the area, on a few occasions bodies have been fished out of the lake. Perhaps the corpses were those of drug addicts, or rival drug dealers, who were murdered and dumped. Although, in fairness, one could be forgiven for thinking that they were simply the corpses of people who had been killed by the high levels of eColi that are present in the lake (and the river) these days.

It seems that acceptable levels of eColi in a water sample are in a range of 0 – 2,000 per 100ml of water. In Bruma Lake recent eColi levels were recorded as being approximately 2,400,000 per 100ml of water. That is well over one thousand times higher than the acceptable maximum levels of eColi in water. The reason for this sorry state of affairs is that, inter alia, sewerage has been flowing into the Jukskei river at an alarming rate due to blocked sewers and sewage pollution from informal settlements. This is not a new problem either. It is just a problem that has not received adequate corrective and proactive attention over the past two decades or so.

Due to the fact that the Jukskei river ultimately flows into the Crocodile River, and thus into Hartbeespoort Dam, these unacceptably high levels of eColi are now becoming present in water that is used for irrigating food crops in the vicinity of Hartbeespoort Dam. Apparently this is just one of the many sources of pollution of Hartbeespoort Dam and, countrywide, the quality of water in South Africa is declining at an alarming rate. Was a time when you could open a tap and drink water straight from it in almost any region in the country. This is no longer the case, I’m afraid. Some experts believe that by 2015 at least 80% of the country’s water supplies will be contaminated beyond the point of purification and will be totally unfit for consumption by man or beast. At least one major food chain has been cancelling fresh produce contracts due to the presence of eColi on the fresh produce.

What has led to this disastrous state of affairs?

Is it overcrowding in the cities due to a never-ending influx of illegal immigrants and rural citizens due to lack of sustainable employment opportunities in rural areas and the added strain their presence places on the sewerage systems?

Is it incompetence caused by blind implementation of Affirmative Action and Black Economic Empowerment?

Is it due to falsification of qualifications and nepotism?

Is it lack of understanding about the importance, no the essential nature, of good hygiene practices?

Is it due to industrialisation and mining without any checks and balances in place?

It is all-of-the above, plus.

But, I think, even more importantly and the scariest question of all: Does anyone in power actually understand that our scarce water resources are being totally polluted to the point where we will not be able to use them to feed the nation? Wait till the masses are truly starving and see what happens then...

On a positive note: At least we can still drink water straight from the tap in Johannesburg right now.


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