If you’ve visited the Vaal River before, in Mpumalanga, South Africa, then you know how unpleasant it is to breathe the air that surrounds the river, smell it, or even just stand close to it altogether.
The Vaal River gives off an odor of sewage, which at times may be worse than the rest of the year. That is because there is partially treated sewage that may flow into the river from a pump station failure, which when it occurs, is when conditions are at its worst.
These sewage spills have damaged the quality of the Vaal River. Pollution is on the incline, with E. coli bacteria, which is estimated to be more than 400 counts per 100ml. This number extremely dangerous for human health, as well as the entire environment that surrounds the river.
It not only presents serious health risks to those who encounter the polluted water but is also a major threat to agriculture and makes the tourists stay as far away as possible.
Last year, the local municipality of Emfuleni identified the source of spillages into the river.
A request for help doesn’t help
The boating supervisor of the river and his colleagues have also written a letter to the municipality that states the urge to stop these spillages, along with the risks involved, should it continue to remain in its current state. They never received a response or solution for it.
Taken how unhealthy it is to work in these conditions or encountering the water, more should be done about cleaning up the river and preventing further spillages into the river.
An area on the river, known as Rietspruit, have also suffered one of the worst pollution problems which caused environmental problems to become even worse.
With ongoing problems with a malfunctioning pump station in another area on the river, known as Three Rivers, the mere idea of the Vaal River being clean once more, will remain just that, an idea.
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