Join S.A.V.E. on a FUN Fund-raising Cruise?
Cruise Caribbean Style on the Vaal for SAVE
Enjoy a Cruise and Dinner/Dance down the mighty Vaal River aboard The SPIRIT OF JEN
When: Saturday, 4 September 2010
Time: 17h30 for 18h00
Cost: R350.00 per person (includes dinner, cash bar available)
Departs: Stonehaven-on-Vaal, Vanderbijlpark
Click here for the poster.
For further information and RSVP: Fiona 083 286 3500
or email:
How can you help S.A.V.E.?
SAVE, together with the River Property & Safety Association and other interested parties have launched a campaign to stop Emfuleni Municipality from further selling off public areas along the Vaal River. The recent sale of Eligwa club for private development of townhouses and commercial development have raised many concerns amongst River lovers. SAVE is of the view that it is the duty of a municipality to supply services such as public recreational areas and caravan parks – not to sell off such land without replacing the facilities.
Members of the public who are being deprived access to the River have expresses strong feelings and legal action will be taken against the municipality in order to reverse the sale of Eligwa and to prevent further sales of public land.
Any person interested in assisting this with cause should be in contact with Andy Henegan 083 7000 452 or Thomas du Toit 082 419 6526.
New threats
To ensure the integrity of the Vaal river and its environment, S.A.V.E. has now embarked on a campaign to bring to book polluters of the river, whether it be municipalities allowing sewage contamination or companies causing chemical pollution. Enough is enough! The pollution must stop!
Press Releases
20 June 2009
SAVE the Vaal Dam...
SAVE (Save the Vaal Environment), an NGO striving to protect the Vaal River and its environs, obtained a court order in the High Court of Johannesburg on Tuesday 2 June 2009 against the Emfuleni municipality. Despite strenuous opposition to the application by Emfuleni, judge John Horn ordered Emfuleni to stop the deliberate sewage spillage into the Vaal River that has been occurring unabated for months. The judge also ordered Emfuleni to ensure that all effluent let into the River complies with the standards laid down by the Department of Water Affairs. In terms thereof, the ecoli counts may not exceed 1000 ecoli parts per millilitre of water. Ecoli is the indicator of the seriousness of the sewage pollution of the water.
2 June 2009
Disaster at Vaal River caused by Emfuleni officials
At its last AGM, SAVE (Save the Vaal Environment), an NGO striving to protect the Vaal River and its environs against pollution, resolved to broaden its area of focus to include the Vaal Dam. "After many reports of sewage pollution of the Dam, we could no longer ignore the pleas for help and we will now focus on polluters of the Vaal Dam as well", Lötter Wepener, chairman of SAVE said at a meeting of interested persons who use the Vaal Dam and environs for recreational purposes and live in that area.
13 April 2009
At a meeting of interested persons on 1 April 2009, representatives of Emfuleni Municipality gave the assurance that its waste water treatment works are all functioning properly.
Shortly after the meeting, an employee of Emfuleni advised us that the assurance is not worth anything as the waste water treatment works (in particular the Riet Spruit Works) are not functional.
As a result, SAVE caused the effluent to be tested and found that the effluent contained massive counts of ecoli and that it far exceeded the minimum standards issued by DWAF. "There is no doubt that excessive ecoli in the water is indicative of sewage in water" Francois van Wyk, a water quality expert of Rand Water said.
22 November 2008
SAVE (Save the Vaal Environment), an NGO striving to protect the Vaal River and its environs, obtained a court order in the High Court of Johannesburg on Friday 21 November against the Emfuleni municipality. Despite opposition to the application by Emfuleni, Judge Chris de Jager ordered Emfuleni to stop the sewage spillage into the Vaal River that has been occurring for more than a week.
2 December 2008
AN ENVIRONMENTAL DISASTER
Thousands of mega litres of raw sewage continue to flow unabated into the Vaal River.
This follows court proceedings in which SAVE gained an interdict against the Emfuleni municipality to stop a massive raw sewage spillage into the Vaal River from the Vereeniging infrastructure which killed fish, birds and other animals.
5 December 2008
SAVE – Further successes
On Friday 5 December 2008, the High Court of Johannesburg ordered the Emfuleni municipality to immediately remove all the dead and rotting fish which have been polluting the Vaal River Barrage Reservoir for the past two weeks. Property owners along the Vaal and communities using the water from Vaal, were up in arms about the tens of thousands of mega litres of sewage which were spilt into the Vaal River as a result of the Emfuleni municipality’s failure to properly maintain its sewer reticulation.
15 December 2008
Emfuleni Municipality is blaming SAVE
It has come to SAVE’s attention that councillor Mike Muir of the Emfuleni Municipality is blaming SAVE and its efforts to protect the Vaal River from the sewage spillage caused by Emfuleni, for the loss of business in the area. SAVE emphatically rejects Mr Muir’s attempt to shift the blame for the problem away from the municipality.
Join S.A.V.E. and bring your family and friends on board as well.
