Article from the Citizen 2009/02/26.

RICHARD DAVIES

PORT ELIZABETH - World renowned Lake St Lucia, home to hundreds of crocodiles and hippopotami, is seriously ill, according to a leading scientist.

The diagnosis is acute dehydration.

"The patient is in intensive care," Professor Alan Whitfield of the SA Institute for Aquatic Biodiversity told delegates at the Implementing Environmental Water Allocations (IEWA) conference in Port Elizabeth on Thursday.

He said the estuary of which Lake St Lucia is a part, was under threat from "historic and current manipulation" of its freshwater supply. The solution was to allow the system's main river, the Umfolozi, to once again flow into the lake.

"Lake St Lucia is not only a World Heritage Site; it's also a Ramsar site of international importance. It has been impacted since the 1930s and things are coming to a head in that system now."

These impacts included the removal of wetlands that had once served to filter the water pouring into the estuary down the Umfolozi; and, a decision -- reversed in March last year -- to divert the river away from the lake.

"A total of 920 million cubic metres Šin-flowÆ has been removed from Lake St Lucia, and in order to fix the situation it needs to be returned."

Salinity in the lake under "natural flows" was about 60 parts per thousand, but -- with the diversion of the fresh water from the Umfolozi -- was now well above 100 parts per thousand, almost three times the concentration of sea water.

"The system is going through extremes it's never experienced before," Whitfield warned.

At one time the Umfolozi River had regularly scoured the lake, but a decision had been taken some years ago to divert the river southwards and open a separate mouth.

This had been done to stop the river depositing tons of sediment in the lake. Depriving the system of its single-largest freshwater supply, however, coupled with a decrease in other inflows due to a prolonged drought in the region, caused the lake to shrink and salinity levels to soar.

"This is a World Heritage Site, and South Africa has a responsibility which we're not fulfilling under the current circumstances."

The area was declared a World Heritage Site in 1999.

Whitfield said the situation was "not all doom and gloom", and there was a solution.

"The Umfolozi River is the key to the future of Lake St Lucia, the absolute key, and we've known that for a long time, but we've done absolutely nothing about it," he said.

Source: Shaka Barker Tours

Notes by Editor

What is very important here is this ... "He said the estuary of which Lake St Lucia is a part, was under threat from "historic and current manipulation" of its freshwater supply."

This is a situation created by the impact of man since 1938 when sugar Cane Farming started in the iMfolozi Flats. The counter measures to this was the channel system that diluted the iMfolozi Flats and rerouted the water through a serious of wetlands and channels into the St. Lucia Estuary behind Honey Moon Bend. During 1970 to 1980 when the Estuary Mouth was hard walled and this channels was maintained the oyster bed at honeymoon bend was alive and the Salmon Hole in front of Honey Moon Bend's Islands was over 20 m deep with caves where Brindle bass could hide in.

St. Lucia is a nursery to many small fishes and many species come here to complete their breeding cycle. To understand the working of the system one needs to look at the rain catchment area from The iMfolozi River mouth to Vryheid and all the way past Nomgoma to Pongola. This is the saturation area of the Lake system. Sugar cane developments on the Mkuzi flats as stripped the catchment area of thousands of indigenous forest and wetlands areas. Poor soil erosion control in Vryheid makes it impossible to direct the water from the iMfolozi currently into he system. 

This does not mean that St. Lucia is closed for holiday makers ... to the contrary ... The current status of the Wetlands is such that Crowned Cranes has moved in.  Hippo population has increased. Crocodiles has doing well in the fresher conditions of the closed system. ... Sic of the one Half a dozen of the other ...

The pass 8 years was the most sever drought the area has experienced ...