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There was a palpable sense of euphoria among many residents of the far northern KwaZulu-Natal village of St Lucia as they watched millions of litres of fresh water pouring out of South Africa’s biggest estuarine lake earlier this month, followed by a major influx of salt water from the Indian Ocean.
Social media platforms were abuzz with “thumbs up” and “awesome” emoticons as locals, anglers and tourism operations congratulated the iSimangaliso Wetland Park Authority and civic leaders for finally removing a berm of sand which had blocked the lake mouth for several years.
Some tour operators said they were worried that boat-based hippo and crocodile watching tours were under threat unless the mouth was breached to reduce muddy water sediments and reed growth after a prolonged period of mouth closure. (Photo: Tony Carnie)
Ecological experts fear the artificial breaching of the Lake St Lucia estuary mouth on Wednesday afternoon poses a major setback for a multimillion ecological restoration project financed by the World Bank to reverse decades of human interference in the natural functioning of the heartland of the iSimangaliso Wetland Park, a World Heritage Site.
Four years ago, the Isimangaliso Wetland Park Authority and then Environmental Affairs Minister Edna Molewa won a landmark victory in the high court against local sugar farmers who had demanded that the lake be breached to protect some of their fields from back-flooding as a more natural water flow was restored to the lake. The court victory – later affirmed by the Supreme Court of Appeal – opened the way to reconnect the uMfolozi River to Lake St Lucia, which has been increasingly starved of water due to nearly 50 years of human interference.