River Jeopardy

By Bongani Bingwa

To see Carte Blanche broadcast, go to YouTube on http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I-4lqY2FXDY

This year's 58th Dusi Canoe Marathon, held in KwaZulu-Natal, was won by a black paddler for the first time.

In a Herculean effort Michael Mbanjwa and his partner, seven times winner Martin Dreyer, not only made history, but smashed the doubles record by an impressive three minutes.

Martin Dreyer (Dusi Canoe Marathon winner):: 'Banji is just a machine.'

Michael Mbanjwa (Dusi Canoe Marathon winner): 'I'm very happy to get here first today after trying for three or four years ... I've been trying.'

But Martin's experience and Michael's strength made the combination unbeatable. And in celebration the two champions were flown to Michael's homestead, deep in the Umsundusi River valley, to share their remarkable victory with his family.

But the festivities were cut short when later that afternoon Michael fell horribly ill.

Michael: 'I really was bad, bad running stomach that was taking a lot of energy.'

Michael had fallen victim to what is known in paddling circles as 'Dusi Guts'. It's an affliction that has begun to strike more frequently with every racing season.

Symptoms of which can include cramping, vomiting, bloody diarrhea and dehydration.

Bongani Bingwa (Carte Blanche presenter): 'But at this year's Dusi, unacceptably high levels of E. Coli in the river had paddlers on high alert.

A series of disastrous sewage spills just weeks before pushed levels of human faecal contamination in the river sky-high.

According to international standards an acceptable drinkable count of the human intestinal bacteria, E. Coli, is 150 to 100ml of water. Tests done along the Umsundusi River, just nine days before the race were measuring up to 115 000 per 100ml.

And, in a shocking survey done six days after the 2008 Dusi Canoe Marathon, over 40 percent of the field went down with chronic diarrhea and/or vomiting.

It's a statistic that has angered renowned conservationist and Dusi Canoe Marathon pioneer, Dr Ian Player. He remembers a day when only the rapids posed a threat.

Bongani: 'What was the water quality when you did your first Dusi?'

Dr Ian Player (Conservationist & Race Pioneer): 'You could drink it with impunity. Today it's very dangerous. It gets more dangerous as every year goes by because there's inadequate attention to what is happening all down the river - and the river is life.'

And it's not just the Umsundusi River in Pietermaritzburg that has become dangerously polluted.

Dr Mark Graham is an aquatic scientist and is often called in by municipalities to test the water quality of rivers under their authority.

Dr Mark Graham (Aquatic Scientist: Ground Truth): 'The canoeists are the red flag to indicate there are problems and issues around water and contamination that many of our rivers suffer from in the country.'

In December, Durbanites were outraged when thousands of fish, eels and other marine life washed up dead in and around the Durban port estuary. Their death was blamed on a 'build up of organic matter' in the water.

Bongani: 'While the word 'organic' suggests these fish died from natural phenomenon, experts say what it really means is that they died as a result of exposure to high levels of sewage in the water.'

Mark: 'These bacteria that exist in the water will effectively suck all the oxygen out of the water and that's when you get massive fish kills.'

Recent similar fish kills occurred in the North West at Tshidilamolomo in October 2007 and at Loskop Dam Nature Reserve in 2006.

And it seems that overloaded sewage systems and corroding pipes all over the country are the problem.

Bongani: 'In places like Pietermaritzburg, when there have been heavy rainfalls the storm water drains can't cope and they spill over excess water into the sewage systems, and from there it all starts to fall apart.'

Mark: 'You get this massive volume of sewage mixed with storm water. The sewage works on our left here just can't cope with that, and because of that we now have this problem.'

Blocked sewage drains begin to burst, spilling their contaminated contents.

And even though sewage treatment plants will set up storage dams like this one to deal with the excess, eventually they overflow and make their own way to the nearest river.

These photographs and footage were taken in Pietermaritzburg after recent storms. They show massive amounts of litter, glass bottles and sewage content such as sanitary towels, accumulating in the rivers.

Mark: 'Not to mention the smell.'

And the best the sewage plants can do with what hasn't flooded out of their storage dams is to bleach it as much as possible. Mark took us to a point on the Umsindusi River where this toxic mixture was being released.

A sample Mark took for us here measured an astounding E. Coli count of 1 045 000 /100ml. That's approximately 7 000 times the acceptable drinkable level.

It's no wonder that earlier in the day paddlers at the start of the Dusi Canoe Marathon had been warned to portage at this point.

Mark: 'Which isn't to say that the communities downstream from here are protected in any way.'

A high E. Coli count means there is a significant danger that diseases like cholera, dysentery and typhoid are also present.

In 2000, Carte Blanche aired a story on the cholera outbreak in KwaZulu-Natal, where at least 30 people in rural areas died. And typhoid killed more than 20 people in Mpumalanga in 2005.

Both disasters highlighting a recent United Nations warning that globally, contaminated water still remains the greatest single cause of human disease and death.

Paul Gaydon (Independent sewage expert): 'They are drinking the water from the river... they're bathing in it... it's horrendous.'

Paul Gaydon is a human waste expert who has studied sewage systems all over Africa. He showed us a 2006 report commissioned by the department of water affairs and forestry, or DWAF, on the state of sewage plants nationally. The results should have sounded alarm bells. Almost one third of South Africa's 1 000 water treatment plants require immediate intervention to avoid a crisis.

Paul: 'It shows in preventative maintenance there are problems in 71 percent of the works. Routine electrical maintenance: there's a problem in 56 percent. Qualified staff: 61 percent.'

Bongani: 'Across the country electricity load shedding has in some cases brought the smooth running of the country to a slow crawl. And without immediate action on behalf of government, could a similar sewage crisis not also be in the pipeline?'

Bongani: 'Who's most to blame for this? Who is not doing their job?'

Paul: 'I think huge blame to the department of water affairs. On the ground they're not prosecuting, and they will not prosecute local authorities that do not perform.'

In South Africa the daily running and upkeep of sewage systems and river health had been put in the hands of local municipalities.

The job of setting standards however is left to the department of water affairs & forestry, who are supposed to fine or take legal action against those who don't meet standards.

But municipal managers, like Rob Haswell in Pietermaritzburg, say a hard-nosed approach is not going to help an already desperate situation.

Rob Haswell (Umsundusi Municipal Manager): 'The Umsundusi municipal area is now 649 square kilometres. It's a massive area, two thirds of which do not contribute to the rates base.'

Paul: 'It's always '' 'We haven't got money, we haven't got money'. And in truth is seems that they haven't got budget.'

In the past decade most municipalities have focused what budgets they have had on providing these basic services to communities who didn't have access to them before.

Rob: 'And as a country we can be proud of those achievements. But the downside is that, yes, we have perhaps neglected maintenance while addressing some of these other issues.'

And while DWAF aren't denying there is a crisis, they are arguing that, just like local municipalities, they are also under-resourced and under-financed. Helgard Miller is from the national department.

Hegard Miller (Acting Deputy Director Policy & Regulations DWAF): 'National treasury allocated additional funds to our department - R1.2-billion over three years for expansion - but that's not sufficient. We estimate that we need about R20-billion.'

And when it comes to enforcing standards, Helgard says his department would rather
talk it out than prosecute.

Helgard: 'It doesn't help to take such a municipality to court - we work with them. Let me quote an example of Emfoleni on the Vaal. A special allocation of R40-million was allocated to them.'

Bongani: 'So when they fail you give them more money?'

Helgard: 'Not in all cases. We want to work with them. We give them a warning and say we see there is a problem - let's jointly work on an action plan.'

Tom Du Toit has lived alongside the Vaal River for 15 years and says he and other members of the organisation Save the Vaal Environment, or SAVE, are still waiting for this action plan to kick in. They claim the Emfoleni municipality [are] allowing raw, untreated sewage to spill into the Vaal River.

Bongani: 'This is the Rietspruit sewage works - what's wrong with this picture?

Tom Du Toit (Save the Vaal Environment): 'This is correct, Bongani. This is one of the clear evidence signs of utter poor management. As you can see, all this sediment, all this shit that has got stuck here, they haven't even cleaned out with a spade.'

Bongani: 'But I thought the situation was improving - didn't they receive R40-million to fix exactly this sort of thing?'

Tom: 'I was here six months ago and this was exactly the same and this hasn't changed at all.'

Tom then took us further downstream to show where all this untreated sewage is being left to pour into the Vaal River.

Bongani: 'So outraged are residents and business owners along the banks of the Vaal River that they've threatened to sue the government over its alleged failure to stop the sewage from spilling into the river. Pity the man who falls into this - the smell alone is frankly disgusting.'

Tom: 'It is our constitutional right to a clean, safe environment and they are the main culprits busy polluting our environment.'

And it seems that SAVE have a good case.

Paul: 'There's nothing hard and fast going on. We haven't seen a national policy coming out. There's a total lack of interest. It's demoralising.'

Bongani: 'The fact of the matter is, we have had people die from cholera and typhoid, and still you can't make municipalities comply with the rules and regulation you have set out.'

Helgard: 'It is a complex process and it will take time to put right.'

Bongani: 'How much time?'

Helgard: 'That's a difficult question that I can't answer.'

And while local and national government continue to complain that they can't afford to fix the problem, another national service delivery crisis could be on the cards.

Bongani: 'How will we know when our rivers are healthy again?'

Dr Player: 'When you hear and see the fish eagle. When we hear that up and down the rivers as it used to be - then we'll know that it's getting healthy again.'

Carte Blanche, 3 February 2008