Knysna river-health project inspires learning from nature
Wanting to put Naturally Knysna principles and biomimicry philosophy into action, BioWise and a group of committed Oakhill and Stepping Stones teachers nine months ago hatched the beginnings of an idea that has blossomed into a multi-partner project with a diversity of outcomes and opportunities.
The health of Knysna Lagoon the project’s primary reason, and with both schools connected via the Monkeyhole and Brickelbos streams to each other and to the lagoon, the kids’ first task was plotting the course of these streams from source to lagoon outflow to understand the river system. Then appropriate sites for water quality testing were identified.
“The next step was to determine the health of the rivers,” said Sue Swain from BioWise. “With the guidance of their ever-committed teachers, the kids collect water samples from these sites monthly.”
Lindon Herwells of Eden District and Joclyn Fearon of Knysna Municipality then organise a range of bacteriological and chemical tests on the samples, and results are fed back to the schools, who then try to identify sources of pollution and possible patterns.
“The children have great fun making mud-balls infused with effective micro-organisms that are put into the streams, just below the most polluted points,” said Oakhill teacher Jane Horn.
These micro-organisms help breaking down pollutants so cleaner water ultimately flows into the lagoon, and ongoing testing will reveal the effectiveness of these efforts.
“Rivers are also dependent on a healthy flow, which is often negatively affected by alien vegetation,” said Stepping Stones principal Carrene Sands. “An upstream site visit confirmed heavy infestation of mainly black wattle, so now an alien clearing operation has been added to the project.”
This brought along another partner in this great collaborative effort, when Working for Water teams organised by SANParks’ Thembela Shabala and Ashley Rhode cut down the wattle and the scholars painted the cut stems with an environmentally-friendly fungicide to prevent coppicing.
“We approached Mr Madikane who heads up Knysna’s Correctional Services with the idea that inmates could turn the black wattle stems into furniture and screens while learning from nature that all waste has value.
“Extending this to seeing what waste tyres, glass, and carpeting can be turned into opens up a world of job generation and entrepreneurial opportunity,” enthused Sue. Until this system is in place, the municipality is chipping the material which can be used as compost.
“This project stands out because it is underpinned by whole systems thinking and nature’s example, which teaches us that collaboration and mutually beneficial partnerships are vital to the successful functioning of an ecosystem,” said Jane. “And it is indeed these partnerships that ensure its success.”
Source: CXpress