Water Week -  Declaring War on Aliens Article by CPO K.C. Linderoth Photos by CPO K.C. Linderoth and AB H. Ngcongo

It was all systems go, when members of Maritime Information Technology (MIT) and Naval Base Simon’s Town Environmental Services Section went into action to eradicate the alien vegetation in the Trim Park. The Trim Park, which is situated behind the MIT headquarters, was overgrown with various alien invasive species.

The cleanup was planned to take place during Water Week, which were from 16 to 20 March 2009. One of our most precious commodities is fresh water and one of our sources of fresh water is ground water. Alien vegetation, which grows very rapidly, uses a vast amount of water. Eradicating alien vegetation has far reaching benefits for us all. The more available water we have, the less chance there is for water restrictions being imposed.

WO 2 Walters getting a birds eye view while supervising the activities

The joint alien plant eradication, which took place on Friday 20 March 2009, was preceded by a cleanup of the Trim Park by members of MIT on 06 March 2009. The Environmental Services supplied one operator with a chain saw to cut off the bigger trees while the smaller trees were hacked off with slashes and hand saws.

A considerably bigger area was cleaned on Friday, as the number of hands on deck was more than with the first cleanup. We also had more experienced people doing the eradication. The cut branches were stacked up in heaps, ready to be chipped into fine pieces by a chipper. After being cut, the stumps were sprayed with herbicide to prevent the trees from growing again, thus alleviating the need for a follow-up eradication program.

CPO Peters & Sea Warrin giving a helping hand	Mr Bester shows no mercy to the aliens
PO van der Merwe hacking away at the aliens	Take that!

It is important for Environmental personnel to supervise all bush hacks in order to identify alien invasive species, thus preventing Fynbos eradication. Members not trained in this field can also easily encourage erosion by their methods of clearing as well as injure themselves by not using the proper protective clothing.

The results of their hard work starting to be visible	WO1Rowe building up muscle while hard at work
WO2 Coetzee taking a water break after a hard day's work	WO 2 Walters and Ls Nyembe wrestling with the aliens

The theme for Water Week 2009 is ‘Water is Life’.

We never know the worth of water till the well is dry ~
Thomas Fuller, Gnomologia, 1732