OUR ENVIRONMENT

Uses to which wetlands are put in Philippi

Information on Wetlands in Philippi

Domestic waste adjacent to wetland

Overgrazing has been , and continued to be, a problem, in the wetlands

Domestic waste in the wetlands

Wetland are being use as the play grounds

Dumping of waste in the wetland

      The word environment means our surroundings, including living and non-living things: example land, soil plants ,animals ,air , water and humans. In the Philippi Environment there are different kinds of things that are mentioned above but we are only going to look at one now, the wetlands, because this makes the environment to be attractive and beautiful. We will later add information on other environmental problems.   

Þ      Wetland                                                                             

These are the lands with water mostly at or near the surface, resulting in a waterlogged habitat, for an example vleis as they are called in South Africa.

These areas also in catchment management areas because they collect the rain but they are commonly known as wetlands. In the Philippi wetlands there are reeds and other plants and water, those reeds are very useful to the water as they purify the water. When the water is purified we can see the birds and other attractive animals, and the oxygen is manufactured by the plants that are in those wetlands by the process known as the photosynthesis. At the same time the water is cleaned.  But if those plants and reeds are demolished, as the Philippi residents use them as their dumping area for their waste, the value of the wetland is lost.  Some of the types of waste dumped in wetlands includes:

*         Home Waste

*         Dead animals

*         Construction waste   

The pollution of the wetlands is the increasing along with the population. The available data shows that  most population indicators increased during 1998-2002 because of the flooding out of the people from other townships.  

The other reason  is the people dump their waste in the wetlands and hoping it will be move away, and that pollutes the water including  environment.

What can be done?

*         The Philippi municipality must protect the wetlands

*         Putt  the guidelines and rules for managing and protecting the wetlands.

*         Employment of people to put aside and separate bins for papers, glass, plastic and tins so that those items can be recycled.

*         Educating people not dump in the wetlands.      

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