Hemel en Aarde threatened on the Onrus River
Professor Anthony Turton is on the scene in Onrus. Where a veritable environmental catastrophe is playing out in the rightly named Hemel en Aarde Valley. Just upriver from Onrus Estuary. This article and accompanying video explain the situation in relevant detail.
There are many lessons to be learnt from this situation. Enjoy the video…
Onrus Valley Wetlands
The prevailing natural flood pulse of the dainty little Onrus River had over the last 40 000 years created an extraordinarily beautiful wetland upriver from the estuary. A functioning tribute to the delightful and free-flowing estuary. Hosting both the flood pulse. And the tide pulse.
The wetland we are chatting about today resulted from large deposits of peat. Peat is made from the roots of wetland plants. This peat does an excellent job of both filtering and most importantly, slowing down of flood waters. This is nature’s way of holding off the periodic torrential rain and flooding that we can get in Southern Africa. Wetlands. That can soak up and impede the flow of so much water.
Human disaster
In 1970s the De Bos dam was built to provide drinking water to Hermanus.
Downriver of this dam, an environmental collapse was initiated. In the Hemel en Aarde Valley.
The dam destroyed the natural flood pulse. The peat dried out. Dry peat is combustible so an underground fire started. The peat beds are now destroyed.
The storm flow is now so violent that it’s destroying the road adjacent to the wetland. Undermining the substrate leading to the collapse of the whole road berm.
Nobody knows what to do to fix it. So the government is using red tape to prevent efforts to stabilise the situation. But they simply don’t have a viable plan.
Epitaph
The peat bed is now gone and the Onrus estuary has silted up.
The Onrus Estuary is now a Class D estuary.
This is an environmental disaster playing out in the Western Cape right now.
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