Archive for the ‘Hartebeespoort Dam’ Category

Hartebeespoort Dam, green or clean?

Monday, April 5th, 2010

Two to three years ago I got quite excited about the efforts to clean up Hartebeespoort dam, since then it is as if all efforts , like most things our local government attempt , died a silent death! Altough I couldn’t find any time to fish this weekend , I pushed aside a few minutes in order to take some photographs of the dam and the surrounding areas. As reported in one of our previous posts (Ifafi, sewage problems continue at Hartebeespoort dam) we decided against fishing Ifafi, De Rust or Roos se oord because of the water quality and reported problems surfacing again. So being in the Hartebeespoort dam area this weekend , the big question came up , GREEN or CLEAN? And the answer is??

The Hartebeespoort dam water quality

The Hartebeespoort dam water quality

It is probably important to know that this dam was once a clean well preserved tourist destination. Now? Now it’s only a tourist destination, a green, money generating, polluted tourist destination. As rightfully said by my brother-in-law, only a scratch-and-sniff patch can truely provide our readers with the full effect, because it is not only the green colour but also the ‘wonderful’ smell completing the Hartebeespoort-dam-effect as we know it today.

Driving towards the famous tunnel, the traffic gave me a chance to get out of the car and walk around the bank.

Driving towards the famous tunnel

Driving towards the famous tunnel

Notice the empty beer bottle in the photo below.

Pollution at Hartebeespoort dam

Pollution at Hartebeespoort dam

Despite all the bad reports on Hartebeespoort dam I still have a desperate longing to at least try fishing the various venues and we probably will. Recent reports in ‘The Tight Lines’ gave positive reviews on resorts such as De Rust and it might be worth while spending a few hours fishing these venues.

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Ifafi, sewage problems continues at Hartebeespoort dam

Tuesday, March 2nd, 2010

As you all know our fishing trips planned for the weekend of 20 and 21 February didn’t really go according to plan! Our trip to Rietvlei dam was a disaster and our trip to Ifafi quickly turned into a NO-GO when we read about the sewage problem that was yet again (or should I say – STILL) posing a huge health hazard! Sewage ran from the road into stormwater pipes, into Hartebeespoort dam between Melodie and Ifafi. The sewage pump at Ifafi have apparently been removed in November 2009 and wasn’t replaced since, the same is true for the sewage works at Rietfontein and Venice Village. According to the Kormorant an additional problem is that the water quality tests were not performed according to legal requirements.

It is a real dissapointment that this issue is once again seeing the light of day, especially since resorts such as Ifafi and De Rust was starting to become the popular fishing destinations they once were!

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