Reports Index

------- Forwarded Message
From: Morne Viljoen <mviljoen@bdz.co.za>
Date: Tue, 21 Nov 2006 17:18:10 +0200
To: BEN <benvandermerwe@telkomsa.net>, Bernard Venter <BVenter@justice.gov.za>, razor-spike <razorspike@mweb.co.za>, Chris Williams <chris@penmarine.co.za>, <bayeteventures@yahoo.com>, Garth Wellman <garth.wellman@liblink.co.za>, "Dr. Gert Willemse (DEAT)" <gwillemse@deat.gov.za>, <keith@yellowsonfly.com>, <wolhuter@freemail.absa.co.za>, Pa <henkmari@icon.co.za>, Peter Arderne <mwardern@mweb.co.za>, <Peter.Mills@gauteng.gov.za>, Pierre de Villiers <estuaries@cncjnk.wcape.gov.za>, Stywe Lyne <stywelyn@iafrica.com>, "Trevor Babich (Fishingowl)" <4_babich@fishingowl.co.za>
Subject: Water Pollution

Good day everybody
 
On of DWAF's favourite excuses with regards to this year’s fish kills in the Vaal was “a sudden drop in water temperature”. 
 
Maybe they should not be so quick to use this as an acceptable excuse.  In terms of the National Water act 36 of 1998:
“pollution means the direct or indirect alteration of the physical properties …of a water resource so as to make it…harmful or potentially harmful…to any aquatic…organisms or… to the resource quality.
“resource quality means the quality of all the aspects of a water resource including…the physical characteristics…of the water resource.

The temperature of water is a physical property/characteristic thereof.  If a sudden drop in water temperature was the result of the sluices of a dam being opened in order to flush away (other) pollution, the opening of the sluices can constitute pollution per se.  Now that DWAF and whoever is responsible for managing dams and sluices know that fish die because of sudden temperature changes, they should think long and hard before they again just “flush” the system.  After all it is crime to:
“unlawfully and intentionally or negligently commit any act or omission which pollutes or is likely to pollute a water resource; or to
“unlawfully and intentionally or negligently commit any act or omission which detrimentally affects or is likely to affect a water resource”

Regards
 
Morné