<\/p>\n
If a tree falls in a forest, does it make a sound?<\/p>\n
This philosophical clich\u00e9 seemed to hover over the meeting on 18 August of the Klipriviersberg Sustainability Association (KlipSA) as its chair Andrew Barker announced that the organisation may have to close.<\/p>\n
Unless a professional team can be established to urgently take the association forward, it could close early next year.<\/p>\n
Barker explained that KlipSA had been calling for new and younger blood for some time, but the response was limited, making succession planning difficult.<\/p>\n
Read: Toxic rivers are poisoning the fruits of democracy<\/p>\n
KlipSA, a non-profit organisation, was founded 17 years ago with the stated aim of protecting, promoting and enhancing the value of the natural assets in the south of Johannesburg, including the Klipriviersberg Nature Reserve.<\/p>\n
In 2018, when it became clear that the compounding problems afflicting the south-flowing rivers, streams and wetlands in Johannesburg south were particularly urgent and complicated, KlipSA established the Klip River Water Stewardship Initiative (KlipWaS) as an operational arm to focus on improving water quality and flow in the Klip River catchment.<\/p>\n
It would be difficult to think of a South African river catchment more in need of champions than that of the Klip River.<\/p>\n
It doesn\u2019t receive nearly as much attention as its north-flowing counterpart, the Jukskei, but in fact the Klip is the bigger and more historically important river, flowing as it does into the Vaal Barrage, which for decades supplied Johannesburg.<\/p>\n
It is also one of the most polluted of Johannesburg\u2019s rivers, running through some of the city\u2019s most populous settlements, notably Soweto.<\/p>\n
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River guardian<\/p>\n
It is through a KlipSA collaboration with the University of Johannesburg\u2019s Process, Energy and Environmental Technology Station (UJ PEETS), that communities living alongside the Klip River and its tributaries today have scientific data confirming what they have long suspected: that their waterways are rank\u00a0and possibly deadly.<\/p>\n
They can use this information to advocate for programmes and interventions to bring about change.<\/p>\n
Should KlipSA close, a number of initiatives will simply stop.<\/p>\n
These include a plan to construct a wetland on the Robinson Canal to help scrub highly contaminated storm water from the Johannesburg city centre and a project that promotes water stewardship to school kids in Klipspruit, Orlando and surrounds.<\/p>\n
Read\/listen:
Can Jack Bloom help fix SA\u2019s water crisis?
Joburg is losing R10bn a year to water leaks and crumbling infrastructure
Stats SA survey lays bare SA\u2019s water supply failures<\/p>\n
KlipSA has been working towards an integrated catchment and urban management plan incorporating large areas of southern Johannesburg, Soweto and the city centre. It may now never see the light of day.<\/p>\n
Impact of \u2018local government turmoil\u2019<\/p>\n
Explaining Klip River\u2019s problems at the meeting, Barker said: \u201cThe instability and ineffectiveness of the local government turmoil have seen an ongoing decline and a rapidly growing deterioration of our urban environment and its key elements.<\/p>\n
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\u201cIn addition, the tens of billions of rands in backlogs of maintenance, management and upgrading of essential services infrastructure compound the pressures.\u201d<\/p>\n
It isn\u2019t the job of non-governmental organisations to lead the remediation of Johannesburg\u2019s rivers; it\u2019s the responsibility of the municipality.<\/p>\n
Johannesburg Water, said Barker, with its chronic operational instability, high non-revenue water losses, repeated wastewater spills and failures of wastewater treatment works, is a major contributor to the deterioration of local river, stream and wetland systems.<\/p>\n
The city\u2019s ongoing water infrastructure crisis has triggered initiatives at different levels of government involving many representatives from different sectors.<\/p>\n
Read:<\/p>\n
Why do Joburg\u2019s taps keep running dry?
\nJHB has a water leaks problem \u2026 Here\u2019s what\u2019s being done about it<\/p>\n
But any improvement in the condition of Johannesburg\u2019s rivers is years off, and in the absence of organisations that can facilitate community and corporate partnerships, and hold authority to account, there will be little chance for improvement.<\/p>\n
This is the value of KlipSA\/KlipWaS, and organisations like it.<\/p>\n
That is what Johannesburg is about to lose.<\/p>\n
Barker noted that there is still time in which an individual, or group, may yet step forward with the capacity to take KlipSA\/KlipWaS forward.<\/p>\n
\u00a9 2026 GroundUp. This article was first published here.<\/p>\n
#Joburgs #dirtiest #river #lose #champion<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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