Waste threatens Cape flamingo

Concerns are growing about the fate of Kimberley’s famous flamingos, as human waste continues to leak from a municipal sewage works into a dam where they breed.

The flamingos of Kamfers Dam have become a major tourist attraction in recent years, with many tourists en route to Cape Town and travelling on the Blue Train stopping to admire the birds.

Environmentalists believe the dam’s newly built artificial breeding-island could become Africa’s fourth- most important breeding site for the lesser flamingo, and the first artificial site of its kind on the continent.

The island was opened amid much fanfare last year, but environmentalists and the Northern Cape’s environment department are deeply concerned about the threat to the birds.

When the Mail & Guardian visited the dam, raw sewage could be seen leaking into water and surrounding veld and a stench permeated the area. Soccer fields in nearby townships were flooded with sewage, while pedestrians were forced to wade through polluted water.

The chairperson of the Wildlife and Environment Society of South Africa (Wessa), Suzanne Erasmus, blames Kimberley’s Sol Plaatje council for failing to upgrade the Home­vale sewage works, bordering Kamfers, and the smaller Greenpoint works. Both were running ‘way above their maximum capacity”.

‘As a result, sewage sludge is pumped directly into the veld and raw sewage also flows into the dam,” she said.

Erasmus emphasised that, in addition to supporting the largest permanent population of lesser flamingos in Southern Africa, the dam was an important wetland.

‘The dam is a natural heritage site,” she said. ‘The municipality must ensure that the inflow of water from the sewage works is of such a quality and quantity that it does not have a detrimental impact on these birds.”

There are also fears that the newly created breeding island could be flooded because of mismanagement.

Local mines draw water from the dam as part of a programme to control its level, so that it does not flood the adjacent railway line and flamingo island. However, it is understood that the mines are becoming more reluctant to do so, because of the poor water quality. Also, some mining operations near Kimberley have closed down, meaning that less water is being extracted from the dam.

The dam level remained low over the past summer because of below-average rainfall and high temperatures. But environmentalists fear that good rains and the increasing run-off from the sewage works could spell the end of the flamingo island.

The affected railway line, used by the Blue Train, is the main line connecting Johannesburg and Cape Town. The track is also used to transport manganese and is threatened with flooding.

Spoornet spokesperson Mike Afenowtitz said his company did not want to comment outside the working group appointed to ‘address the situation”.

Les Abrahams, spokesperson for the Northern Cape’s ministry of economic affairs, tourism, environment and conservation, said his department was extremely concerned about the situation.

‘We consider the possible threat to the habitat of Kamfers Dam’s flamingos in a very serious light and the department has called on those involved to do all in their power to rectify the situation,” he said.

He pointed out that the lesser flamingo is a protected species listed in national and international red data books. In Africa, it breeds only at Botswana’s Sua Pan, Namibia’s Etosha Pan and Lake Natron in Tanzania.

Abrahams stressed that upgrading the sewage works was not his department’s function.

Mining company De Beers would not comment on the quality of the dam’s water or whether it was usable in their operations. But Lisa Brugman, De Beers Kimberley Mines spokesperson, did say that ‘issues” at Kamfers Dam had been a concern to the company and the municipality for some time.

‘We have been engaging as part of a stakeholder group to arrive at a solution and are confident that a solution can be found,” she said.

Tony Cooper, Kimberley’s city engineer, said the council did not have the funds to give the dam crisis immediate attention.

‘The need to increase the capacity of the works was identified in 2005 and investigated and registered as a municipal infrastructure grant project with the national government,” he said.

Cooper said the estimated cost of increasing the plant’s capacity was R30-million at 2005 prices, spread over three financial years, but that the municipality had been granted only R18-million.

‘Alternative funding sources from government and private sources are currently under investigation,” he said.

He conceded that the council was concerned about a possible damages claim by Spoornet in the event of flooding of the railway line.