Wonderfonteinspruit

Wonderfonteinspruit is a small river situated in the Highveld region on South Africa. Its source has been disputed in the past although it is now accepted that the river originates in the West Rand of Gauteng in between Krugersdorp and Randfontein, at Tudor Dam, which was initially used as a storage dam for Luiperdsvlei Gold Plant.[1] In the past the river received a majority of its water from karst springs along its course, the river flows through one of the richest gold producing areas in the world, which lead to the dolomitic compartments which fed the river being dewatered to make way for mining activities, this led to the drying up of the karst springs that fed the river.

Naming

The river owes its name to the number of karst springs observed along its course by the early settlers in the area. Emile Holub wrote about the pristine beauty of the area along the river and its magnificent karst features including the river disappearing into the ground and reappearing kilometers down stream and isolated deep crystal clear pools up to 150 ft deep with no apparent inlet or outlet within the vicinity of the river. Hence they named it Wonderfonteinspruit (wonder-fountain-stream).

Course

The rivers natural source is unknown, its current source is at Tudor dam which gets its water from underground pumping and urban runoff, it's heavily criticised for heavy metals and pollution in the water, from there it flows into Lancaster Dam, which has been drained as a result of the toxic water, it was once a popular recreational destination before draining. The river flows westwards from there through the township of Kagiso until it reaches Donaldson Dam just outside the township of Bekkersdal, just after Donaldson Dam the river flows into 1m diameter pipeline which transports it over the dewatered dolomitic compartments to just outside Carletonville, there it forms a large wetland area known as Abe Bailey Wetlands which forms part of Abe Bailey Nature reserve and Abe Bailey dam (Padda Dam). After Abe Bailey Dam's wall it flows as a stream to Welverdiend Wetland, whereafter it flows into 3 more private farm dams before it 'disappears' and resurfaces at the two Turffontein eyes, from there it makes its way for its last 10 km until its convergence with the Mooi River

Impoundments

The river currently has 6 impoundments along its course, they include Donaldson dam Top and Bottom lakes, Abe Bailey dam and 3 small farm dams west of Welverdiend. There are also 3 decommissioned dams - Tudor dam, Lancaster dam and Harry's dam. Dam's were decommissioned because they were deemed hazardous thanks to their poor water quality thanks to acid mine runoff and water borne radioactive materials (incl uranium) making it unsafe to the public, who utilized the dams for recreation (Tudor and Lancaster dams) and for living (e.g fishing for food, drinking water for cattle and irrigation), Harry's dam was also leaking water into the dewatered compartments causing problems for the mining companies responsible for the dewatering.

Wetlands

Wetlands include Kagiso Wetland, Abe Bailey Wetland and Welverdiend Wetland.

Abe Bailey Wetland

Abe Bailey is rich in biodiversity and is a very popular amongst bird watching enthusiast, it runs through Abe Bailey Nature Reserve which results in the nature reserve being well known for its world class bird watching.

A prime feature of the wetland is the large flocks of african spoonbills and egyptian goose that reside in it, additionally large numbers spur-winged goose, red-knobbed coot, moorhen, purple swamphen, white-faced whistling duck, southern pochard, african black duck, african shelduck, african yellow-bill duck red-billed teal, black-winged stilt, abdim's stork, white stork, yellow-billed stork, grey heron, purple heron, goliath heron, black-headed heron, black-crowned night heron, avocet, lesser and greater flamingo, african fish eagle, osprey, black-chested snake eagle, gymnogene, pied kingfisher, malachite kingfisher, goliath kingfisher, pygmy kingfisher, brown-headed kingfisher, striped kingfisher, european bee-eater, white-fronted bee-eater, hammerkop, lilac-breasted roller and various terns, wag-tails, courses, plovers, weavers, finches and widow birds.

The nature reserve's large game include black wildebeest, blesbok and burchell's zebra. Other game include steenbok, common duiker, grey rhebok, klipspringer and warthog. Predators include brown hyena, caracal, black-backed jackal, african wild cat, aardwolf, cape fox, yellow and slender mongoose, suricate, honey badger, striped weasel, striped polecat, southern african hedgehog, small and large spotted genet, and cape clawless otter. Other mammals include cape porcupine, cape pangolin, aardvark, ground squirrel, vervet monkey, lesser bushbaby, rock hyrax and numerous different small rodents.

Notable reptiles and amphibians are nile water and rock monitors, transvaal girdled lizard, african rock python (specimens of over 6m have been recorded), rinkhals, puff-adder, mole snake, boomslang and african bullfrog.[2]

Fish species

The following fish can be found along the whole rivers course - Common Carp (Cyprinus carpio), Sharptooth Catfish (Clarias gariepinus), Banded Tilapia (Tilapia sparrmanii), Southern Mouthbrooder (Pseudocrenilabrus philander), Three spot Barb (Enteromius trimaculatus), Straight-fin Barb ( Enteromius paludinosus), Largemouth Bass (Micropterus salmoides), Orange River Mudfish (Labeo capensis), Moggel (Labeo umbratus) and Western Mosquitofish (Gambusia affinis).

The Wondefonteinspruit below the 1m pipeline has additional fish species including Mozambique Tilapia (Oreochromis mossambicus), Redbreast Tilapia (Coptodon rendalli), Nile Tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus), Canary Kurper Chetia flaviventris), Blue (Israeli) Tilapia (Oreochromis aureus), Chubbyhead Barb (Enteromius anoplus), (Perca fluviatilis) and goldfish (Carassius auratus). There are also Oreochromis hybrids and Tilapia hybrids in the river, the addition species occur here thanks to the stocking of fish in settling ponds that are part of the mines attempts to clean the water that comes from underground, golf course dams belonging to the mine and a unsuccessful attempt at starting a fishery by a local farmer, who released his stock into the canal joining the mine water settling ponds to the Wonderfonteinspruit.[3]

Fauna

Birds

At least 250 different bird species have been spotted in and around the river.[4] With a wide variety of habitats along the river course including wetlands, impoundments, grassland, scrubland, riverine forest, thornveldt, rocky outcrops and both rural and urban settlements, resulting in a diverse population of birds along its course. Some notable birds include African Fish Eagle, Martial Eagle, Black-breasted Snake Eagle, Secretarybird, Kori Bustard, Egyptian Goose and Meyer's Parrot.

Mammals

With large game such as Black Wildebeest, Burchell's Zebra, Blesbok and Springbok limited to the nature reserves and private game farms bordering the river, other antelope such as Common Duiker, Steenbok, Grey Rhebok and Klipspringer are found in their natural habitat along the river, as well as Warthog, Vervet Monkey, Rock Hyrax, Cape & Scrub hare, Springhare, Porcupine, Aardvark, Pangolin, Hedgehog, Ground Squirrel, Yellow & Slender Mongoose, Striped Weasel, Striped Polecat, Large Spotted and Small Spotted Genet, Honey Badger, Aardwolf, Black-backed Jackal, Cape Fox, African Wild Cat, Caracal, Cape Clawless Otter and Leopard. Various small rodents and Feral animals and Livestock.

Reptiles/Amphibians

Large African Leopard Tortoise can still be found near the river, a rare sight for such endangered species, large African Rock Pythons (5.5m-6m) have been viewed frequently, also Rinkhals, Boomslang, Puff Adder, Cape Cobra, Brown House, Mole and Egg Eater snakes as well as Red-Lipped, Skaapsteker and Night Adder. Nile and Rock Monitor Lizard, Flap-necked Chameleon, Transvaal Girdled Lizard and various Skinks and Gecko's.

African Bullfrog, Cape Clawless frog and Striped River Frog, Bubbling Kassina, Common Caco as well as various Toads inhabit the river.

References

1. "dissertation" (PDF).
2. "abe bailey wiki".
3. merafong site study and archives
4. "gauteng_abe_bailey".