November 29, 2004
By Sheree Russouw
NEARLY all of the dangerous transformer oil that poured into Westdene Dam last Monday has been removed, according to the two environmental management firms tasked by City Power to clean up the dam, west of Johannesburg.
The burnt oil swept into the dam last Monday evening, after a fire broke out at City Power's Hursthill substation on Perth Road, near the dam.
City authorities say the "force of water extinguishers" used by Emergency Management Services firefighters to douse the roaring flames carried thousands of litres of hazardous oil through the area's stormwater drains and into the dam.
The cause of the fire - which plunged 20 000 homes and businesses into darkness for most of last week, until City Power restored electricity to Johannesburg's western suburbs on Thursday - is still unknown.
"A week ago this dam was covered in oil but it's much better now," says Dave Hansen, the hazardous material operations manager at Drizit, an environmental management firm. "We've removed up to 98 percent of the oil. We hope to finish the cleanup by Tuesday."
He says workers are now focusing their efforts on removing the oil that is clinging to the dam's reeds and litter.
But the cleanup has come too late for some. At least 12 birds, mostly chicks and dabchicks, living on the dam and its surrounds have died from the poisoning effects of the oil spill.
Nicci Wright, centre manager for FreeMe, an urban wildlife rehabilitation organisation, says it has rescued 100 birds from the polluted dam in the past week and is still cleaning the toxic oil off many of their bodies.
She says the organisation has relocated some of the birds to a new home at a small but pristine dam near Rand Afrikaans University in Auckland Park.
Hensen says absorbent fibres successfully soaked up the bulk of the oil that covered the dam like a sheet last week. Pumps were used to aerate the water to feed oxygen to the dam's numerous fish species.
"I haven't found one dead fish," he says. "It's taken an oil spill like this for the dam to be cleaner now than it has probably ever been. We've got rid of all the pollution."
City Parks spokesman, Jenny Moodley, says workers are continuing with the cleanup, adding the dam is now in a much cleaner state than it has been for years.
"The nice thing is that not only have we removed the oil, but we have managed to clean up the dam as well. It is getting a much-needed makeover, which is long overdue," she says.
In recent years, she adds, the dam was frequently covered in litter and car oil from local roads.
"But now the situation is under control. We will continue to monitor the dam and keep it under surveillance to ensure something like this doesn't happen again," says Moodley.
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