Zeekoevlei drawdown is drawing to a close, the weir is going back in on 10 July. All waterside residents need to pay close attention to the following.
In terms of the missive delivered to all waters edge properties and posted on this site http://www.zeekoevlei.co.za/?p=2854 see paragraph stating “Any piles of reeds stacked outside the properties of residents without a shoreline maintenance plan, stacked on sidewalks in a haphazard manner, or placed on road verges/properties outside the shoreline maintenance period of May to June 2014, will not be collected by False Bay Nature Reserve. This may lead to a fine for dumping. General garden waste or other refuse will not be collected and such waste may not be placed with the reed piles.” please be advised of the email I received from the manager of Zeekoevlei Nature reserve today: see below
Dear Richard,
Please could you circulate a message out to the Friends of Rondevlei and Zeekoevlei and anyone else that you know that lives in the area, that no more reeds are allowed to be placed on to the verges. The date to complete this was Monday 30th of June.
Currently we are struggling with getting truck drivers as we lost the funding to hire one externally and the more reeds that are placed on verges after the due date is making it very difficult for me to arrange for them to be removed.
Please could residents also take note that as the permission date for placing reeds on the verge has expired any more reeds that are place on verges will be considered as dumping and appropriate fines will be issued.
Thank you
Kind regards,
Victoria Day
Section Ranger
False Bay Nature Reserve: Zeekoevlei Section
Tel: 021 396 4283
Victoria.Day@CapeTown.gov.za
To the False Bay Nature Conservation: – Please take cognisance of the fact that there is still a great volume of rainfall for the period July to December.
Please be considerate of the water-side residents when closing the wier.
Apparently Zeekeoivlei drains an area of 90 km square. Closing the weir during this rainfall period results in massive flooding of our verges and basements.
Cenrtainly this must also contribute to the general unpleasant flooding of all the neighbours in the catchment area.
Please consider not fully closing all the chocks and perhaps leaving the last row out until later in the year.
Also please deal with ‘residents’ who unilaterally places additional boards in the weir this time around
Thanks and Regards
Trevor
Whilst sympathizing with the Reserve who have ‘lost’ budget with which to fulfill their responsibilities to their funders or should we call them the long-suffering ratepayers of Zeekoe Vlei, I find the cavalier manner in which supporting City departments treat said funders beyond comprehension.
Within 2 weeks of the commencement of the drawdown, the catch fence in the Lotus River was removed and those in the Little Lotus Canal were left in a totally unsatisfactory state and allowing unhindered movement of the rain-carried rubbish into the Vlei.
The water-carried rubbish in the Lotus River has left the berm looking as if no clearance of debris has been undertaken and the shallows and mouth of the Little Lotus exhibit an abundance of accumulated litter.
The catch fences, if past performance by the Solid Waste Management Department are anything to go by, will neither be replaced nor re-erected in the next 5 days before the reinstatement of the weir stoplogs resulting in all the litter, debris and other non-desirables being washed further into the Vlei by the rains presently being experienced and still to come. This will only result in debris fouling the shores where residents will, once again, be forced to clean up with no likelihood of assistance from the “City which Cares”.
Oh, heaven help you if you put the City’s rubbish you have cleaned from your shore on the street verges for Council collection – you have been warned; you will be fined for having done what was necessary after the City failed to care for the environment!
Is it not time we called the City to account for themselves?
Regards,
Len Davies
Call to extend the drawdown for a further period of time due to amount of litter and filth on the NE shoreline
The attached picture is the area still overrun with litter and filth, yet you want to close the weir on the 10th. You must be joking?
So it’s the usual story… litter/ filth, theft/collapse of litter traps, lack of vehicles and staff shortages; what has changed in terms of the management of this water body in the last few years. Precious nothing it seems?
This year it appears as if the contracted workers who clean up the vlei have done a less than satisfactory job- one only has to look at the mess.
Everyday on the NE shore there are dozens of fishermen lining the banks (no doubt some from the RDP area).
All they do is leave a veil of sparkling scales atop the already mounting paper waste and filth.
Why does this wetland have to struggle year in and year out? Depending where you reside certain sections of Zeekoevlei are rapidly looking more and more like a city dump. Where is the control? What the hell is going on?
Thank you for your email.
The Weir is scheduled to be closed on the 14th of July, this is already an extension that was decided on before Draw Down commenced due to the delayed opening of the Weir this year. I am going on leave the following week for a month so will be unable to extend Draw Down.
My team of five cleaned the whole of the western shore of Zeekoevlei, they completed it about two weeks ago. It was from there that they moved over to Bottom Road and cleaned up along the shoreline where they spent about a week.
We have had a lot of early rain this year which keeps bringing down the litter from the Zeekoevlei catchment. So all the work that the contractor did in a day was undone as soon as it rained. There has been about 4 times that I have seen truckloads of litter being removed from the Big and Little Lotus sites, but as soon as it rains it brings more down making it look like no work has been done. I think that the litter contract may have been extended as I saw them working in the Little lotus today, but I am waiting on confirmation on that from Walter Williams.
The litter traps that were supposed to prevent the litter from entering the Vlei were stolen at the beginning of Draw Down (not removed as mentioned in your email). This is why the litter traps are not going to be put in until last minute because they will get stolen.
As for the issue of lack of vehicles and lost funding. I have managed to organise a truck for the removal of reeds and litter that was removed from the Vlei. I have managed to organise a truck driver for 9 days which is only one day less than I would have had on the hired truck. The only difference is that the truck I have organised, has to be loaded by hand which takes much longer than a grab truck. I was also removing piles of litter and reeds with my council vehicle until it was sent in to be repaired.
As for the inquiry about flooding verges. The verges are part of the Zeekoevlei nature reserve and forms part of the wetland system. In some areas around the vlei areas the reserve extends 15 m inland and it is the wet edges that the frogs and other smaller creatures use to breed and lay their eggs, as further in the water is too deep and there are larger prey like carp that will eat the eggs. August is also breeding time for the endangered Western Leopard toad, so the water level needs to be up for them to breed.
The inquiry about the flooding basement. There is one gentleman that I know of that has a problem with this, this is because the basement was built too close to the vlei (with in the 25 year flood line).
Kind regards,
Victoria Day
Section Ranger
False Bay Nature Reserve: Zeekoevlei Section
Tel: 021 396 4283
Victoria.Day@CapeTown.gov.za
Thanks for your snappy reply Victoria. Ad hominem aside, instead of attaking the residents, of which I am that gentlemen, I have never experienced flooding of my basement in all of 13 years that I have lived on the vlei. Last year it was as a direct result of you guys closing the wier while heavy rains were expected. The professor did not advocate those opening and cloing days because of her health. As can be seen by the less than satisfactory report, the bacteria count is actually increasing for the first time in 3 years
Dear Victoria,
The ‘last minute’ your describe above when relating to the replacement of the catch fences of the Lotus River and Lotus Canal has come and long gone.
The shores of the Vlei are awash with litter brought about by the inaction of the City Department responsible for the replacement & management of the catch fences and once again, residents are being left to clear the litter from their shorelines.
Why?
Is it not time that the City recognized, once again, that they are breaking the law by polluting a natural water body?
Sincerely,
Len Davies