I have a passion for water, perhaps because I grew up in Namibia with its water scarcity.   I experienced the shortage of water, and I know what thirst is. Apart from the Creation itself, life and man-kind, water is God’s most precious gift. Without water no life is possible. Water is the back-bone of our country, our agriculture, industry, and particularly Treeferns Trout Lodge. Furthermore, because we care for our environment we have to conserve our water resources. If everyone does his and her share, and perhaps a little more, we will succeed in our efforts.

The Working for Water Programme (WfW),  launched in 1995  by the Department of Water Affairs and Forestry, spearheads the fight against alien invasive vegetation. Yearly millions of Rands’ damage  are caused by these species, and particularly pose a serious threat to the water resources of the country. They divert an enormous volume of water from more productive and essential uses like human consumption, agriculture, industry,  recreation, and more specifically the fishing industry. At Vlakfontein black wattle are the  main alien invaders.

This picture shows the invasion of  rock by black wattle.

Since 1995 the Programme has cleared more than a million hectares of invasive plants, and not only conserved water but also created training and work for thousands of jobless people through the so-called RDP scheme. A project was also carried out at Vlakfontein where mechanical ( felling of trees), and chemical (applying of herbicides) methods were used.  A follow-up project is presently being conducted by our-selves. The plants are cut, and the stumps treated with herbicide.

See also on this web site “Our water source”.

Acknowledgement : ” Working For Water Webpage“,  10 February 2009, Department of Water Affairs and Forestry. (Google search)

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