THE health of Nahoon River can be checked at the push of a button today after data collected by local pupils was uploaded for the world to see.
Wildlife and Environment Society of South Africa (Wessa) project manager Mike Denison said data from a six-school science project was loaded onto the website www.minisass.org by schoolchildren who have been using science kits called river boxes.
They were also taking part in International Coastal Cleanup Day, which ends with a gathering at Nahoon beach from 9am to noon tomorrow.
The eco-club members started their day clearing trash from Nahoon Point and returned with recycled yellow bags loaded with trash, mainly ear buds and food containers.
They also rolled seven tyres, and carried lengths of plastic pipe on their shoulders.
Wessa schools eco-club project manager Kerry McLean said the river box data revealed a finding of “poor” water and environment quality, mainly caused by agricultural run-off, reduced flow from the Nahoon Dam, and flourishing alien plants and algae.
At one site near Abbotsford there was a sudden spike in alkalinity with PH measures hitting 10, indicating a sudden event, possibly dumping.
Stirling High eco-club members Ammaarah Ismail, 16, Nathan Ilunga, 16, Erin van der Merwe, 14, and Marc Marais, 14, said they visited the Abbotsford site four times with their river box of goodies, including a chart, container and magnifying glass.
They found trees were being chopped and cooking fires made. Insects had died off, and one man was seen carting away river stone, probably for landscaping. Someone had dumped a few bags of black mussel and sand mussel shells in the river. They said: “The flow of water also slowed down over the year and green algae appeared. It seemed to kill the leeches.” — mikel@dispatch.co.za
Checking on Nahoon River’s health at push of a button
Wildlife and Environment Society of South Africa (Wessa) project manager Mike Denison said data from a six-school science project was loaded onto the website www.minisass.org by schoolchildren who have been using science kits called river boxes.
They were also taking part in International Coastal Cleanup Day, which ends with a gathering at Nahoon beach from 9am to noon tomorrow.
The eco-club members started their day clearing trash from Nahoon Point and returned with recycled yellow bags loaded with trash, mainly ear buds and food containers.
They also rolled seven tyres, and carried lengths of plastic pipe on their shoulders.
Wessa schools eco-club project manager Kerry McLean said the river box data revealed a finding of “poor” water and environment quality, mainly caused by agricultural run-off, reduced flow from the Nahoon Dam, and flourishing alien plants and algae.
At one site near Abbotsford there was a sudden spike in alkalinity with PH measures hitting 10, indicating a sudden event, possibly dumping.
Stirling High eco-club members Ammaarah Ismail, 16, Nathan Ilunga, 16, Erin van der Merwe, 14, and Marc Marais, 14, said they visited the Abbotsford site four times with their river box of goodies, including a chart, container and magnifying glass.
They found trees were being chopped and cooking fires made. Insects had died off, and one man was seen carting away river stone, probably for landscaping. Someone had dumped a few bags of black mussel and sand mussel shells in the river. They said: “The flow of water also slowed down over the year and green algae appeared. It seemed to kill the leeches.” — mikel@dispatch.co.za
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