Durban — In an attempt to preserve wetlands, Mhlathuze Water has embarked on a mission to educate pupils from Ngwelezane township and surrounding areas about the importance of keeping wetlands clean and free from invasive alien plants.
The entity embarked on the campaign as part of World Wetlands Day celebrations earlier this month.
Mhlathuze Water was joined by the KZN Department of Economic Development, Tourism and Environmental Affairs, KZN Ezemvelo Wildlife, King Cetshwayo District Municipality and the City of uMhlathuze.
On Friday, Mhlathuze Water took its educational campaign to Ingweni Primary School, in Ngwelezane, in order to equip pupils about the importance of wetlands in the ecosystem, and keeping them free from the invasive, alien plants that affect them.
The main objective behind the programme was to spread awareness among the young pupils about the significance of wetlands and about the detrimental effects of poor waste management on the ecosystem.
The pupils wrote short stories around the preservation of the wetlands and competed against each other by showcasing ways and methods of keeping the wetlands clean.
In her presentation, Mhlathuze Water specialist Makhosi Mthembu described the wetlands as the “nature’s sponge that act as filters against pollutants, water storage and act as a habitat for aquatic plants and animals”.
“Our wetlands have many other important uses. They also offer economic benefits because, especially in the rural areas, women use the plants that are found on wetland areas to weave grass mats, which they sell to make ends meet, and to feed their families,” she said.
Mthembu added that wetlands can be likened to "biological supermarkets" because they provide great volumes of food that attract many animal species. These animals use wetlands for part of or all of their life-cycle.
She further said dead plant leaves and stems break down in the water to form small particles of waste organic material called "detritus."
“This enriched material feeds many small aquatic insects, shellfish and small fish that are food for larger predatory fish, reptiles, amphibians, birds and mammals.”
The functions of wetlands and the values of these functions to humans depend on a complex set of relationships between the wetland and the other ecosystems in the watershed.
A watershed being a geographic area in which water, sediments and dissolved materials drain from higher elevations to a common low-lying outlet or basin at a point on a larger stream, lake, underlying aquifer or estuary.
It is reported that South Africa is home to 23 wetlands sites that were promulgated at the international wetlands convention, Ramsar, and of these, KwaZulu-Natal has the largest wetlands- which is the iSimangaliso Wetland Park.
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