OVER the next week, Mhlathuze Water will be planting vegetation in barren wetland areas below Foskor’s fertilizer acid plant in Richards Bay in an effort to revive the waning eco-system.
Mhlathuze Environmental and Water Quality Manager Xolile Makhoba said it is vital to breathe life into this vulnerable wetland area owned by the utility.
‘Wetlands are important for the protection and improvement of water quality, providing fish and wildlife habitats, storing floodwaters and maintaining surface water flow during dry periods.
‘Live plant plugs with a density of two to three plants per square meter will be planted in one-metre strips across the width of wetland.
‘These will be sourced from artificial drains in the surrounding area or from potential donor wetland areas identified and approved by the local authority.
‘Deeper areas will be planted with Phragmites australis and the shallower fringe areas will be planted with a mix of Typha capensis and Cyperus dives.
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‘The fringe non-flowing wetland area will be re-vegetated.
The initiative is part of the utility’s commemoration of World Environment Day last Monday and World Oceans Day on Wednesday, which the Mhlathuze team celebrated with Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife with a tour of the landscape on Thursday.
‘This year’s theme is ‘Connecting People with Nature’, which implores us to recognise that our actions and what we discard, even at home, lands up in our environment and our ocean,’ said Mhlathuze Environmental Officer Nonhle Mkahanya.
‘You may only see soil, but what you dump on the ground seeps into the groundwater, wetlands, streams and oceans.
‘And the oceans are not only essential for food security, health and transport, but also plays a major role in the climate and biosphere.’
MC Sesi Magubane said: ‘We tend to only value things of monetary value, but we cannot give monetary value to clean water and fresh air.
‘We only truly realise the importance of these resources when we are without it.
‘We need to consider ourselves objects of positive change, because our actions today may not affect us directly in our lifetime, but will have a huge impact on future generations.’
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