I went to Sandvlei this past weekend with Pierre and Mike. From previous reports and the electricity cuts in the beginning of the year which lead to sewage spills I expected some pollution.
What I saw saddened me, it was much worse, plastic bags, bottles, just rubbish everywhere, fringing the margins of Sandvlei. I hooked probably 10 plastic bags, even a shirt, expected a human limb to follow.
This is a disgrace to the human population. The canal had that typical greenish brown sewage colour. Any fish (even barbel/catfish) don't deserve to live like this. Reports on the Vaal river it isn/t much better, I believe many other waterways also suffer.
Someone has to take responsibility for the current state of pollution, I cringe thinking what it will be like, not in 50 years time but in 10 years.
More people need more water, more housing etc. Inevitably lots of rubbish on roads ends up in waterways already, which are interlinked. This doesn't even deal with more people generating more sewage.
What can we do collectively as fly fishers who treasure beautiful clean eco systems with strong healthy fish?
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