Magalies Water said this week that the Hartbeespoort remediation project is underway.
“The projects have started. For instance, the monitoring of water quality, fingerprinting of pollutants, and mapping of land use activities and associated footprints is at an advanced stage. A report is under development. From thereon, water quality will be monitored on a quarterly basis and RFI will be advertised for innovators who have technologies to solve problems upstream of the dam in the catchment and further afield. This will be done before June 2024. The first phase was to understand the status quo and culprits within the catchment and then develop a management plan or best practice to redress the prevailing challenges,” said spokesperson David Magae.
He said the request for quotes (RFQ) for nets to be used in the catchment areas, has been advertised and Magalies Water expects to appoint a service provider before the end of October 2023. “The nets will be installed before the end of this year (2023). Two strategic and critical points of installation have been identified after site assessment and they comprise the Magalies River and Crocodile River mouths into the Hartbeespoort dam,” he said.
Magae said progress to date is as follows:
• Nano-bubblers to boost the dam have started. Site establishment is done and full implementation is underway.
• Removal of hyacinth and debris has started.
• The conceptual phase has been concluded for ultrasound to monitor sludge levels and bioremediation to decompose and consume the organic layer using novel and innovative technology.
• Water quality monitoring, fingerprinting and mapping has started.
• Remote sensing and photogrammetry to monitor the coverage and to concomitantly perform the reconnaissance survey of the status of the dam is under way.