by December Ndhlovu

The MPWC celebrated World Water Day and International Day of Action for Rivers on the 15th of July 2022 by gathering at Bushbuckridge. The group was comprised of 25 people: youth (male and female), women were in majority, as well as a few elders. The purpose of this meeting was to celebrate the essence of water and rivers in our lives as human beings. Water is very important to all lives and it is the most threatened natural resource.

The MPWC PROVINCIAL MEETING convened, reported, and discussed priority areas:

· Attendance at the South African Water Caucus (SAWC) Coordinating Committee (CC) meeting in Eastern Cape from 30th June to 3rd July 2022 where Provincial reports were given and tasks teams reported on activities.

o Water quality testing kit: at this meeting SAWC, Ferrial Adam from Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (OUTA) demonstrated the water quality testing kit, a tool OUTA is donating for use by organisations working with water rights and management. The water testing kit will be a big boost to environmental activism for water because we will be able to test the quality of our tap water and the rivers.

o MPWC noted that the SAWC Biannual General Meeting was to be held in Limpopo Province in November 2022, and a committee had been established to organise.

· MPWC noted with excitement the pending compliance investigation that will be carried out by the Inkomati-Usuthi Catchment Management Agency (IUCMA). The results/data will enable MPWC to motivate specific actions to the Presidential Climate Commission (PCC) and any relevant institution.

· A highlight at the MPWC meeting was the introduction to the Department of Water and Sanitation (DWS)’s Integrated Regulatory Information System (IRIS). The DWS website has given access to the water quality status of any municipality in South Africa.

o IRIS enables independent checks on the status of the water quality and sewerage management. It is a great opportunity for environmental activists to access information for monitoring and accountability.

· Impacts of large-scale Industrial timber plantations (ITPs) on Ecosystem services: ITPs like gum and pine trees badly affect water downstream flows because they use vast amounts of water, more than other natural habitats in South Africa.

Mpumalanga Province has over 4 000 hectares of commercial timber plantations which negatively impacts water sources and the environment.

o Bushbuckridge is overplanted with gum tree plantations in the Mariepskop Mountain range, despite the fact that in 2000 / 01 period the South African government took a decision to strategically clear plantations in this mountain range.

o Gum trees use over 120 liters of water daily, and have destructive impacts on the environment by destroying wetlands, and grasslands and impacting negatively on the water downstream flow.

o MPWC has requested the IUCMA to investigate compliance of the ITP industry to rules and regulations in the Sabie and Sand sub-catchment management areas.

· Hemp production for food and the home garden: The meeting discussed Hemp as one of the best crops to produce that can be used to empower communities. Hemp is a very nutritious plant that contains proteins, can be used as a superfood for animals and makes the best quality material.

o Home food gardens are essential for every household to curb dependence on supermarkets. We need to build food security at home and community levels to avoid a lack of food resulting in hunger and malnutrition as climate change and global warming intensifies.

FIELD TRIP TO NWARITSANE RIVER

Water is a very critical component of our lives and so it is to traditional health practitioners (THP’s). THPs use water to perform certain rituals, ceremonies and certain healing processes. THPs also use river water to cleanse their patients.

In Bushbuckridge, the downstream flow of the two main rivers flowing into the Injaka Dam are at its lowest.

o Observing what we used to see at the Nwaritsane River as we grew up: as the MPWC group visited the river it was observed that there were many living organisms at the river that people could not see, that used to be present before and the group identified only a few.

*Nwaritsane River:* As it was winter, the river ecosystem should have had a number of butterflies, dragons and other aquatic creatures present.

*Nwaritsane River:* Traditional healers performing their ancestral rituals during the World Water and Rivers celebrations

· MPWC Way Forward:

o The MPWC agrees on the importance of celebrating environmental calendar events that are related to environment and water. Climate change is intensifying and there is an urgent need for human beings to respect nature and the environment

o Home gardens are important because households can grow the vegetables that are needed, as well as this food being fresher, healthier and more nutritious than chemically grown food in supermarkets. want. Fresh homegrown food is healthy compared to what we buy from supermarkets.