Water and Sanitation Deputy Minister, Sello Seitlholo, will on Friday, 14 February 2025, visit Hartbeespoort Dam to assess progress on the continuous rehabilitation programme undertaken by Magalies Water to remove hyacinth and algae that have negatively impacted the dam’s water quality.

Fish have been dying the past months.

The Department of Water and Sanitation has appointed Magalies Water to develop and implement a three-year programme to eradicate hyacinth that has infested the dam for a long time. The programme includes interventions such as the profiling of problematic contaminants in the dam, the removal of floating plants and debris from the dam and to implement the remediation technology to restore the dam’s ecological services.
Deputy Minister Seitlholo will also meet with different stakeholders and the local municipality to ensure a commitment to resolve water quality challenges at the dam, particularly on issues of pollution as a result of solid waste and the municipality’s wastewater.
Water hyacinth coverage is currently over 40% and thousands of fish have died over the past month, seemingly as a result of a lack of oxygen in the water.