 FROM THE EDITOR — by Sheena Carnie
ANOTHER new year with new attitudes and new resolutions ... For some, maybe, but for me 2010 came too quickly and the lead-up to it was too busy for me to give new year’s resolutions a second thought, never mind actually stick to them.
Too often life just seems to gallop past with us holding on tightly, praying we won’t fall off and be trampled by the feet of the thousands of other people stampeding along. And so, although the first month of 2010 already seems to have flown by in much the same fashion, I’m determined to slow things down and make more time for family weekend breaks, make time to go to the beach and fly a kite, make time to sit in the sun and read a book, and most certainly make time to sit quietly alongside a crystal-clear river, rod in hand.
Perhaps it’s even time to plan an extended fishing trip like those undertaken by Tim Elliott to Western Australia (see page 58) and Clive Will along the Orange River (see page 20).
If you can’t see your way clear to arranging such long trips, there are plenty of beautiful, unspoiled venues in all nine of our provinces that can easily be reached in a day, so make it your new year’s resolution to visit at least four new venues in 2010, and write to tell us about them.
Happy reading.
IN MY OPINION — by Dave Rorke
WATER — it is the most basic requirement for the existence of life on planet Earth (and any other planet, for that matter), and obviously, without it in good quantities — and of a good quality — we wouldn’t survive. And that goes for all fish-life too: no water, no fish; bad water, no fish. Indeed, without good quality water, our sport would cease to exist.
On Sunday 10th January, M-Net’s Carte Blanche repeated an award-winning feature on the shocking state of our country’s water — our rivers and dams. I saw it when it was first flighted last year, and it underscores what David Levene has to say on the (poor) condition of South Africa’s water in his letter on the opposite page: “This, I honestly believe, is in such need of cleaning up that it will take a couple of life times to get the water right, if ever!”
The Carte Blanche feature gave me cold shivers: “Dead babies in the Eastern Cape. Dead crocodiles in the Olifants River. Dead fish in the Vaal. 7 000 Cholera cases, crumbling infrastructure and large-scale sewage spills. Last year South Africans, shell-shocked by the electricity crisis, wondered what would be next.”
Professor Mike Muller (Public & Development Manager: WITS) said five years before the electricity crisis hit our country, some decisions were taken that were wrong and some decisions weren’t taken. He maintains that this is the stage we are at with the state of our water. It’s panic stations, said Prof Muller, and if something is not done now, in four or five years’ time it will be too late.
Carte Blanche presenter Bongani Bingwa reported that blue green algae is a symptom of eutrophication and is considered one of South Africa’s most critical water challenges. “The case of Hartebeespoort Dam is one of the worst in the world,” said Bongani, adding that this water is toxic and is mostly caused by sewage effluent flowing into our rivers. Indeed, around 12 to 16 sewage works empty their effluent into the water that flows into the dam.
Bongani asked Lindiwe Hendricks, former Minister of Water Affairs and Forestry, if there was a crisis: “Well it’s their (the media’s) words. Because I say, if you look at what’s in the media and you look at what is being said about water, they say there is a water crisis; the country is going to run out of water. I’m saying it is incorrect. There is no impending crisis, as far as the security of supply is concerned.”
But, continued the presenter, it wasn’t just the media. Concerns were raised by water scientists and engineers — including those in her very own department.
Platitudes and excuses flowed as the camera took us to towns where sewage flowed into the rivers, where previously efficient sewage works have been abandoned. Dr Jo Barnes (Faculty of Health Sciences, Stellenbosch) concluded by saying the root of the problem is denial: “As the clock ticks, the problem gets bigger.”
One hopes that the new ministry is made of sterner stuff than rhetoric.
Fly for now! |
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