Page 27 - Landscape-Issue149

The Alberts Park dam From left: Gilbert Giles, Khuliso Masindi and Colleen Rood during the site visit to the spring

Springs are the natural outflow points of groundwater. Here the spring emerges from quartzite rock and the stream flows for about 10 m before entering the dam

The rocks are orange to reddish in colour managed by Johannesburg City Parks and In conclusion
and beneath them lies a softer, reddish- Zoo, its regular use by the community Noting the above, a threat to the Alberts Farm
coloured, layered rock that also displays makes it a common resource that requires spring is damage to its access point and the
faint green hues. The massive, blocky rock is dedicated protection. Conservation efforts surrounding vegetation, and pollution of
identified as quartzite due to its high quartz should include hydrogeological mapping, the water flowing from it; this impacts the
content, which exceeds 90 percent. The public education and the implementation water quality and raises awareness about the
softer, fine-grained, reddish rock is shale. of appropriate protective policies. Further importance of taking care of springs. Most
Both the shale and its metamorphosed research is needed not only to understand springs in the city are built over or canalised.
equivalents, such as phyllite and quartzite, the ecological functioning of the spring, Boreholes are also a threat to springs.
are part of the Orange Grove formation, but also to explore community knowledge Unlike other parks in Johannesburg such as
which in turn is part of the West Rand group and perceptions regarding its use. Zoo Lake, Alberts Farm has in the past been
within the Witwatersrand super-group. The spring is not only a hydrogeological deliberately left in its natural state in order
Geologically, the Alberts Farm spring marvel but also a vital resource for a wide to maintain its biodiversity. Increasing use
is characterised by massive, highly range of users. With increasing water stress by the public has necessitated management
fractured quartzite overlying fine-grained, in the City of Johannesburg, springs such intervention by Johannesburg City Parks and
impervious shale. This configuration as this one can offer valuable information Zoo in collaboration with the community
suggests that it is a contact spring, which about the storage and movement of water group, Friends of Alberts Farm Conservancy.
forms at the boundary where a permeable in fractured aquifers. This knowledge has Several years ago, the City of Johannesburg
aquifer meets an underlying impermeable the potential to contribute to the city’s undertook a vegetation survey of Alberts
layer. Additionally, due to the prominent water supply, and focused and sustained Farm, done by DL Jacobs of the Department
fracturing in the quartzite, the spring may conservation efforts are therefore urgently of Botany, University of the Witwatersrand.
also be classified as a fracture spring, where needed. Recommendations in the survey included
water discharges through joints or fractures carefully monitoring the wetland, labelling the
in the rock. Significance of the Alberts Farm trees and removing some of the alien species.
spring It pointed out that Alberts Farm is a catchment
Threats and the continuous need These include the following: area feeding the Braamfontein Spruit, which
for conservation • Ecological benefits: the spring provides forms part of the larger river network of the city
At Alberts Farm spring, certain religious a constant water supply to stream and the Crocodile River catchment, and should
and cultural practices that involve candle biodiversity and wetlands downstream, therefore be managed in an eco-friendly way.
burning and bird slaughtering pose a as well as for floodwater control.
serious threat to water quality. These • Religious: people from different parts of Acknowledgements
specific activities contaminate both the Gauteng and elsewhere collect the spring The information in this article was provided
spring and the adjacent dam, negatively water for cleansing purposes and some in by Khuliso Masindi. Acknowledgement is
affecting other users, including individuals the process burn candles and slaughter also given to Colleen Rood and Godfrey Giles
who collect water for religious purposes. It is chickens. for their assistance and input, as well as the
therefore essential to conserve and protect • Drinking: people working around the Alberts Farm website. Johannesburg City Parks
the Alberts Farm spring on a continuous area use the spring as a source of drinking and Zoo is acknowledged for the management
basis, as it is a shared resource of ecological, water. and upkeep of Alberts Park.
cultural, religious and domestic importance. • Hydrological importance: the site has
Although the Alberts Farm spring been identified as valuable in the research References made in the article may be obtained
is located within a conservation area of Johannesburg’s groundwater. from Mr. Masindi. n

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