Polluters beware! – 14 November 2013

The Palmiet River Watch helps department of water and sanitation to track down polluters in the area.

Mariclair Smit | 14 November 2013

ACTIVE members of the Palmiet River Watch have successfully helped officials to pinpoint sources of pollution and to reprimand the guilty parties.

According to Lee D’Eathe, who initiated the river watch, it has received a lot of meaningful response from the business and residential community, and the photographs sent on WhatsApp, the mobile messaging application, have helped the department of water and sanitation to determine what the pollutants are and to trace them from where they came from.

“The reports from the residents have enabled the officials to catch and warn some of the polluting companies, and they are narrowing down their search to the Pinetown North Industrial area which includes Suffert Street, MasonStreet Old Main Road, Oppenheimer Street, Schenk Road, Olivier Road,nd Blair Road,” said D’Eathe.

The latest pollution to be reported by the active members is a small stream in Harley Road, which eventually washes into the Palmiet river.

According to residents in the area the stream has suffered major pollution for the last 16 years and on Sunday yet another pollutant drained into the small stream creating major foam.