Magalies Water Takes Action to Manage Water Hyacinth at Hartbeespoort Dam
Hartbeespoort – Magalies Water has reported advancements in its initiative to eradicate the water hyacinth that has been obstructing Hartbeespoort Dam.
This week, Magalies Water announced that it is successfully overseeing the regrowth and dispersal of the hyacinth.
As of early April 2025, the water hyacinth coverage in the lake at Hartbeespoort Dam stood at 9.9%.
“Through the adoption of integrated management strategies, Magalies Water has effectively diminished water hyacinth coverage to 0.2% as of 15 July 2025,” stated David Magae, spokesperson for Magalies Water.
“This accomplishment highlights the importance of collaborative efforts in the ecological restoration of the dam.”
“Magalies Water regularly undertakes systematic water sampling and analysis at the dam along with various upstream sites, compiling data from over 53 monitoring points on both monthly and quarterly bases.”
Magae remarked that the analysis of data gathered over the past two years indicates that the dam is hypereutrophic, characterized by elevated nutrient levels and heightened chlorophyll and algal biomass.
“These findings demonstrate that ongoing runoff pollution from upstream activities presents a significant challenge to maintaining water quality in the dam,” Magae added.
“To minimize the volume of solid waste entering the dam, a litter boom has been installed at the inlet of the Crocodile River.”
Nonetheless, there has been a notable surge in the growth of Salvinia, a plant that thrives in winter, with its coverage escalating from 1.6% in April to 5.8% in June 2025.
Salvinia is a small aquatic plant, ranging from 0.5 to 4 cm in length, which complicates mechanical removal efforts.
“To facilitate the removal of Salvinia, the physical removal team has created a net structure that gathers substantial amounts of Salvinia and channels them toward the shoreline for manual extraction,” explained Magae.
“Thanks to these initiatives, Salvinia coverage has been reduced to 2.76% as of early July 2025.”
“Efforts are ongoing to further manage the rapid proliferation of Salvinia.”
“Additionally, advanced biological techniques utilizing nanobubble technology have been implemented at the dam’s inlet for effective removal.”
Magae elaborated that this method enables the dispersion of oxygen-infused nanobubbles, which effectively reduce contaminants through various mechanisms: oxidation processes targeting nutrient pollutants such as nitrogen and phosphorus, precipitation methods for metal extraction, and alleviating oxidative stress affecting algal and cyanobacterial populations.