Schools Project Award Finalist: Weston Agricultural College
Hilary Fine
What started out as a simple geography class exercise for learners at Weston Agricultural College, ended up with the local town council being forced to acknowledge the huge problems caused by a municipal dumping site.
The saga started in March this year, when the grade 11 geography class began investigating a dump located next to a number of houses near the Mooi river in KwaZulu-Natal.
“The initial intention was simply to make learning fun,” says Chris Nowlan, the geography teacher who supervised the 14 boys.
After the class had collected soil and water samples, and conducted a survey among local residents, they felt they had no choice but to share their findings of the pollution problems caused by the dump with the local town council.
“They told the Mooi River Town Council what they had discovered and expressed their concerns for the local environment. It seems the council has woken up and started to take action,” says Nowlan.
Rubbish from the Bruntville settlement is dumped at the site next to the houses, where it is burned daily. Smoke drifts over the houses, often choking the residents.
“The smoke stinks,” resident Patricia Xaba summed up the situation when she was interviewed by the learners. Almost all the residents they spoke to had a negative view of the dump and complained about the acrid smell of the smoke affecting their daily lives and their health.
They also complained about the dump polluting the soil and water in the surrounding area. So, using donated water and soil tests, the learners showed that the pools of water that lie stagnant on the dump contain high levels of dangerous chemicals and faecal matter.
These pollutants flow from a small stream that runs close to the dump into the Mooi river, where Bruntville residents often swim and canoe clubs train. Those using the river are susceptible to infection from bacteria.
People and animals also pick up diseases from the rubbish on the dump. The dump has no fence around it, allowing animals and people to scavenge on the dump for food.
The council acknowledged in May that the dump facility is outdated and too close to where people live. It is investigating moving the dump and instituting alternative waste disposal management.
When these developments happen, it won’t matter whether they are result of the learners’ actions or other pressures. For the learners at Weston, the important things are that their eyes have been opened to an environmental hazard and they did something about it.