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Habitat rehabilitation can boost ecosystems and create jobs

ARTIFICIAL FLOATING WETLANDS
Plants are growing along the shore once again, providing habitats for indigenous fish, birds, insects and crustaceans and artificial floating wetlands provide habitats for fish, birds and insects

ARTIFICIAL FLOATING WETLANDS Plants are growing along the shore once again, providing habitats for indigenous fish, birds, insects and crustaceans and artificial floating wetlands provide habitats for fish, birds and insects

2nd May 2014

By: Schalk Burger

Creamer Media Senior Deputy Editor

  

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The continuous and active rehabilitation and remediation of habitats not only improves the robustness of the habitats and provides space for natural ecology to take place, but also creates sustainable employment, says Department of Water Affairs Crocodile river integrated water resource management and catchment strategies deputy director Petrus Venter.

Masses of water hyacinth and algae, in the Hartbeespoort dam, in the North West, are a persisting problem. The department started the Integrated Biological Remediation Programme, in 2007, which entails physically removing algae, whose growth is attributed to the high amount of nutrients in the water, and invasive water hyacinth and re-establishing natural ecosystems.

Chemical treatment of the dam has been used since the late 1970s, but is not sustainable and has a detrimental impact on the natural vegetation around the dam and the water ecosystem. Chemical spraying to control hyacinth impacted on the 56 km shoreline and parts of the shore remain damaged, he says.

The programme also entails repairing the shorelines to provide an environment for plants to grow and placing artificial floating wetlands around the dam using indigenous plants to provide habitats for zooplankton, insects, small fishes, many different animals and bird species.

“During the first two years of the programme, we struggled to manage the masses of matter we had to remove. However, the amount of invasive hyacinth and algae is now under control, as a result of a small team of people working daily on a rotation basis at the 32-m sluice gates,” says Venter.

“The impact of the programme is visible and awareness of its impact is spreading because people can see the difference being made. There are plants growing along the shore once again, providing habitats for indigenous fish, birds, insects and crustaceans, while the artificial floating wetlands provide habitats for fish, birds and insects.”

The programme has resulted in the water becoming significantly clearer for increasing periods with natural ecosystems being re-established. Regular bird counts have seen the number of birds increase from hundreds to thousands. The presence of the indigenous red-knobbed coot waterfowl accounts for up to 40% of the water hyacinth control by the end of the growing season, which is an unexpected result of the proliferation of birdlife around the dam, he notes.

The floating wetlands have also enabled several species of water plants to re-establish their presence up to 5 m underwater, where they use the nutrients that algae would have used. The expanding natural ecosystems are using more of the nutrients in the water.

Biodiversity is an effective solution to manage wetlands and watercourses, and the preservation of natural vegetation and development or rehabilitation of ecosystems, wetlands and watercourses must feature as a core aspect of all construction, urbanisation, agriculture and mining projects’ environmental plans, Venter emphasises.

Natural habitats prevent invasive species and pests from occupying the areas, while the effective management of watercourses is best practice for all civil developments to introduce, expand and improve rainwater retention and damming, to lessen impacts on downstream environments caused by flooding, he adds.

“The Hartbeespoort dam was the most polluted dam in South Africa, and could have been referred to as a ‘water desert’. However, there is currently an explosion of bird species and indigenous ecosystems. This success is the result of good practices and putting in the effort to clean undesired conditions and re-establish a natural habitat for indigenous species.

“It aptly demonstrates the power of conservation management, even amid commercial developments such as the farms around the dam,” concludes Venter.

Edited by Martin Zhuwakinyu
Creamer Media Senior Deputy Editor

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