GLENTANA NEWS - A Glentana resident contacted Mossel Bay Advertiser, saying Glentana residents are at their wits' end, with rubbish and debris on the beach not being removed.
She said they had tried “all avenues and channels”, including Mossel Bay Municipality, for the rubbish on the beach to be cleared, to no avail.
The woman said she had complained to a member of the mayoral committee as well, whom she said offered to do something, but “months have gone by and nothing has been done”.
She said the residents were “desperate”.
The area of the beach affected is near the restaurant and parking lot at Glentana.
Medical waste
Also, medical waste had washed up there - pill bottles - and was not removed, she claimed.
The resident pointed out that Glentana is a Blue Flag beach.
The Advertiser informed the municipality of the complaint and it responded thus:
Medical waste Sightings of pill bottles can be reported to the Spill Tech group, the sub-contractor dealing with any items that wash ashore on the Garden Route coast.
Any sightings of items washed ashore should be reported by calling 063 404 2128.
Pin location
If possible, a pin location of where the items washed ashore should be added.
Here is one of the posts done by the municipality in this regard about a month ago.
With regards to debris, see the post shared by the municipality following heavy rainfall.
The prevalence of debris on beaches is a result of current weather patterns in Mossel Bay, the Garden Route and the Western Cape.
Rainfall
During the past 12 to 18 months, the region has seen the highest rainfall and more consistent rainfall than the preceding eight years.
For example, the Little Brak River estuary closed in 2022 due to the poor mean annual rainfall from 2016 to 2022.
However, with the record rainfall of nearly 1 000mm in 2023, recorded at the Department of Water and Sanitation’s measuring station at Wolwedans Dam, the following are experienced:
1. Dams are full and kept full, plus the water table is saturated, resulting in more runoff.
2. High rainfall results in natural debris being washed down rivers and into the ocean. It will inevitably end up on the beaches. Similarly, other unnatural waste may also end up on beaches and tends to find its way into water courses/rivers/ stormwater channels.
Volumes
3. The currents in the area move from west to east, which means the enormous volumes of debris coming down the Gourits River (with its massive catchment area from as far as Beaufort West), as well as other larger rivers including the Goukou River and Breede River, west of Mossel Bay, further contribute to debris washout on local beaches.
4. Mossel Bay Municipality’s beach cleaning teams consistently clear beaches of unnatural waste material.
5. As mentioned in this social media post, council took a resolution not to remove natural debris from beaches, apart from designated swimming areas.
(The municipality also noted that it contributed comment on debris on Little Brak Beach for an article in the Advertiser in April this year.)
Beach-cleaning team
6. During August, September and October, the municipality deployed a beach-cleaning team in Glentana, which included active soft rehabilitation work on the dunes.
This work will be extended into November.
Members of the public can report service delivery issues (044 606 5000 or admin@ mosselbay.gov.za) or download the Collab Citizen municipal smartphone app.
Videos and photographs can easily be sent on these platforms.
Removing bushes
The Glentana resident also mentioned that a “team from the Northern Cape is removing indigenous bushes from the area, including milkwood trees”.
She noted: “They don’t seem to know the difference between indigenous and alien species.”
She said she was concerned about this and wanted someone to get to the bottom of this.
The municipality noted that it was not aware of such activity and could, therefore, not comment.
“If more information is made available, such as the location, to determine ownership - it could be a private land being prepared for construction - the issue could be followed up.”
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