Various stakeholders have worked tirelessly over the years to get the Water Hyacinth under control at Hartbeespoort Dam in the North West. It is finally happening!
Hartbeespoort, South Africa (09 May 2022) – The Centre for Biological Control (CBC) has shared an exciting announcement that the invasive Water Hyacinth at Hartbeespoort Dam is under 5%. The CBC and Rhodes University have worked tirelessly on this, along with several community-based initiatives.
Water Hyacinth is an invasive species of plant from Southern America that grows in bodies of water. The plant blocks the sunlight from reaching the bottom of water bodies. It depletes oxygen levels in water systems, which results in damaging water quality and seriously affects various lifeforms in the ecosystem.
Not only is it bad from an environmental standpoint, but it also hampers the use of water bodies preventing recreational activities such as boating and swimming. For Hartbeespoort, this is especially frustrating as the dam is a recreational centre point in the North West.
Thanks to work done by the CBC, Rhodes University and community initiatives, the invasive plant has been reduced to below 5% coverage. Considering how bad the problem was in 2017, that is a considerable achievement.
“It has happened! Water hyacinth cover is below 5% on Hartbeespoort Dam as a result of biological control! Now more than ever it is imperative we get rearing stations up and running to keep Megamelus going over the winter months so we can release thousands as soon as water hyacinth comes back from seed in spring.”
That hard work is not over, though. The issue requires continuous control to keep the species in check. Unfortunately, the CBC’s funding for this programme was pulled, and the tender was cancelled. They are committed to continuing efforts and are asking for support from interested parties that want to keep the change in place.
“Unfortunately, our tender application with DFFE was cancelled so we are unable to fund this important work and we will be relying on stakeholders around the dam to keep the biocontrol programme going with our support and expertise.
Please get in touch with Julie Coetzee on julie.coetzee@ru.ac.za for info on how to keep this going.”
Curious what it looked like before? This video was shared on the 27th of May, 2017.