Eight learners from Kayamandi have received water monitoring kits from the Department of Water and Sanitation to enable them to monitor the water quality of the Krom River in Stellenbosch.

This is part of an ongoing effort of the Kayamandi River Partnership to improve the health of these two rivers which are heavily impacted by pollution from the nearby light industrial area and storm water runoff from the neighbouring township. The partnership consists of researchers from the Stellenbosch University Water Institute (SUWI), the Plankenbrug business community and local schools Kayamandi Primary school, Ikhaya Primary School, Kayamandi High School and Makapula High School.

Dr Leanne Seeliger, project leader and a researcher at SUWI, says the aim of the river monitoring project is also to deepen the learners' knowledge about the importance of monitoring the health of rivers in Stellenbosch and in South Africa.

Through this project, they will now become part of a national effort to involve learners from all over South Africa to become aware of the health of the rivers in their immediate environment. The learners will upload their observations, using the miniSASS kit, to a central website. miniSASS is a simple tool to monitor the health of a river and measure the general quality of the water in that river. It uses the composition of small animals and insects living in rivers and is based on the sensitivity of the various animals to water quality.

For more information on the Kayamandi River Partnership River Monitoring Day, please contact Mr Meluxolo Mbali at 073 823 1454.

For more information about Kayamandi River Partnership see the website on www.kayariverpartners.org.za