The water body at Princess Vlei is undergoing weekly testing as part of the City’s initiative to ensure water quality in its vleis across the city.
Councillor Alex Lansdowne, deputy chair of the Mayoral advisory committee on water quality in wetlands and waterways, said the scientific, water and sanitation directorate of the City of Cape Town did an investigation on whether the city was adequately servicing and collecting data at Princess Vlei.
“We’ve had challenges around water governance in the past such as Zeekoevlei and ongoing challenges at Zandvlei.
“What we can confirm here actually is that over time there hasn’t been any major sewage spills into Princess Vlei. There hasn’t been any major pollution incidence which would have warranted a potential shut down of the water body.
“The investigation, which has recently concluded has been a positive and useful exercise because what we discovered is that on the metrics that we measure that the water quality at Princess Vlei is actually really good; as in good over time.”
He added that the waterbody is also tested for E coli.
“Essentially, they measure a metrics such as phosphorus, dissolved oxygen in the water and E coli, among other things as well as the algae.
“This is something we not necessarily doing because we are worried, we doing it because it is what should be done.
“We are bringing up our standard of water governance at Princess Vlei to the highest level and giving it adequate water governance procedures and testing so that the people who come here from all over the city can use the water safely.”
Weekly reports on the tests would be available online so anyone in the city would be able to see and access the information.
“This is actually one of the healthiest Vlei’s in the City of Cape Town. The one thing that makes Princess Vlei different to Zeekoevlei, Zandvlei and Rondevlei, Milnerton Lagoon, Flamingo Vlei is that all those water bodies are managed by the city’s environment department where as Princess Vlei is managed by City Parks.”
Sub-council chair and Ward 72 councillor Kevin Southgate said over the years Princess Vlei has been used by fishermen and various religious sectors in terms of baptisms.
“The fishermen and recreational fishermen also come out here to fish and since we’ve had committed ourselves to the upgrade, we’ve seen more people come to make use of the facility.
“Hence as the city we need to make sure that we meet all the necessary criteria in terms of making sure the space is healthy and safe and that we are compliant with legislation.
“With the help of the Princess Vlei Forum we have also gone so far as having Princess Vlei declared as a heritage site last year and that also adds to the work everyone is doing to ensure that we look after the facility, not just for now, but for generations to come.”
Southgate requested that Princess Vlei be moved from being managed by City Parks as he felt it was not receiving the needed attention.
“Currently with Parks having the responsibility to oversee the vlei, it is not getting the treatment it should be getting when one compares it to all the other water bodies.
“I think given the fact that Princess Vlei is one of the biggest water bodies around for that not to be included in the environmental sort of space has always been a question for me.
“I’m hoping that by the commitment shown now in terms of weekly water testing that it would be a step in the right direction.”
However while the water quality is being tested, the city also needs to look at the negative impact of the water hyacinth, Southgate added.
“One has to mention the negative impact the water hyacinth has at this particular facility. We have asked for nets to be put up.
“Today you can see the water is clear but if you look along the edges you can see the hyacinth around there and if the wind change direction it’s going to gather in the centre of the vlei and that is not a nice sight at all”
Meanwhile Lansdowne concluded that their next challenge is tackling the water hyacinth and to ensure it does not impact the vlei.
“The next challenge with Princess Vlei is around the water hyacinth, that floating plant, and it is actually the most invasive plant species in the world.
“The challenge here is that we remove these annually.
“The job now is to make sure we get the hyacinth under control at Princess Vlei upstream so that it does not affect the work downstream.”
