Property owners to have their say on Centurion Lake
Property owners to have their say on Centurion Lake
Residents of Tshwane may have a say on the latest attempt to rehabilitate Centurion Lake which has fallen from grace in recent years.
A formerly popular attraction that used to draw hundreds of people to the area every day, the lake is now a dirty, stinking mess, which has seen businesses there losing clients.
Now the Tshwane Municipality has initiated a public participation process.
Interested parties must register by December 4 and thereafter public meetings are to be held on the matter.
DA councillor for Centurion Christa Spoelstra will seek an urgent meeting with environmental management authorities to discuss the plans for the rehabilitation of the lake, the Hennops River and Lower Kaalspruit.
This coincides with the start of the public participation process on the latest proposals for the river system.
Spoelstra said ongoing longterm interventions were welcomed, but these could take years to implement.
'It is for this reason that the community needs information on how the rehabilitation would be implemented.
'We believe the water has to be purified before it enters the Centurion area,' said Spoelstra.
'The lake was built without proper planning for future developments,' Spoelstra added.
'The problems were further compounded by pollution and not maintaining the sewage or river banks.
'The Tshwane, Johannesburg and Ekurhuleni municipalities should shoulder the blame for this disaster.'
In terms of the proposal, dredging of Centurion Lake should continue in line with the environmental authorisation granted in April last year.
However, DA caucus member councillor Clive Napier said this was a costly exercise that could have technical and environmental implications.
'Perhaps we should forget about rehabilitation and focus on upgrading the lake area, reducing the size of the old lake and creating a new feature such as an indigenous park.
'Canalisation of the existing river area might also be a cheaper option,' Napier said.
The proposed management intervention entails the construction of permanent structures along the Kaalfontein Spruit.
It also provides for the construction of a series of sediment basins, litter traps, wetland, weir and a pump station with chlorination tanks and a pipeline to pump water from the weir to the Centurion Lake.
There will also be remedial embankment stabilisation upstream of the Centurion Lake to improve its conditions as well as the upstream areas.
This is intended to improve the water quality within the Hennops River system.
A long-term phased approach has been proposed.
First will be removing litter and sediment, and then controlling soil erosion on the upstream embankments, before wetlands and mini conservation sites can be established downstream.
In addition, a wetland will be constructed north of the N1, east of West Avenue and on the southern side of the Hennops River.
Polluted water from the Hennops River will be withdrawn and filtered through the wetland, before it is piped, underneath South Street, where it will be added to relatively clean water from Techno Park.
The City of Tshwane had not commented on the recent plans by the time of going to press although questions had been sent to it on Wednesday last week.
Interested and affected parties may register or obtain more information by phoning TGM Environmental Services at 012 346 7655 or e-mailing delia-AT-tgmenviron.co-DOT-za
Pretoria News
Residents of Tshwane may have a say on the latest attempt to rehabilitate Centurion Lake which has fallen from grace in recent years.
A formerly popular attraction that used to draw hundreds of people to the area every day, the lake is now a dirty, stinking mess, which has seen businesses there losing clients.
Now the Tshwane Municipality has initiated a public participation process.
Interested parties must register by December 4 and thereafter public meetings are to be held on the matter.
DA councillor for Centurion Christa Spoelstra will seek an urgent meeting with environmental management authorities to discuss the plans for the rehabilitation of the lake, the Hennops River and Lower Kaalspruit.
This coincides with the start of the public participation process on the latest proposals for the river system.
Spoelstra said ongoing longterm interventions were welcomed, but these could take years to implement.
'It is for this reason that the community needs information on how the rehabilitation would be implemented.
'We believe the water has to be purified before it enters the Centurion area,' said Spoelstra.
'The lake was built without proper planning for future developments,' Spoelstra added.
'The problems were further compounded by pollution and not maintaining the sewage or river banks.
'The Tshwane, Johannesburg and Ekurhuleni municipalities should shoulder the blame for this disaster.'
In terms of the proposal, dredging of Centurion Lake should continue in line with the environmental authorisation granted in April last year.
However, DA caucus member councillor Clive Napier said this was a costly exercise that could have technical and environmental implications.
'Perhaps we should forget about rehabilitation and focus on upgrading the lake area, reducing the size of the old lake and creating a new feature such as an indigenous park.
'Canalisation of the existing river area might also be a cheaper option,' Napier said.
The proposed management intervention entails the construction of permanent structures along the Kaalfontein Spruit.
It also provides for the construction of a series of sediment basins, litter traps, wetland, weir and a pump station with chlorination tanks and a pipeline to pump water from the weir to the Centurion Lake.
There will also be remedial embankment stabilisation upstream of the Centurion Lake to improve its conditions as well as the upstream areas.
This is intended to improve the water quality within the Hennops River system.
A long-term phased approach has been proposed.
First will be removing litter and sediment, and then controlling soil erosion on the upstream embankments, before wetlands and mini conservation sites can be established downstream.
In addition, a wetland will be constructed north of the N1, east of West Avenue and on the southern side of the Hennops River.
Polluted water from the Hennops River will be withdrawn and filtered through the wetland, before it is piped, underneath South Street, where it will be added to relatively clean water from Techno Park.
The City of Tshwane had not commented on the recent plans by the time of going to press although questions had been sent to it on Wednesday last week.
Interested and affected parties may register or obtain more information by phoning TGM Environmental Services at 012 346 7655 or e-mailing delia-AT-tgmenviron.co-DOT-za
Pretoria News
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