Msunduzi River
A weir of the Msunduzi River in Pietermaritzburg
Template: Infobox River / Obsolete
The Msunduzi (also: Umsunduzi, English Dusi ) is a river in the South African province of KwaZulu -Natal. It is a tributary of the River Mngeni. The name comes from the Zulu language Msunduzi. The Msunuzi flows through the center of the provincial capital of Pietermaritzburg. The river is also namesake of the municipality Msunduzi in which it is located.
Sports
Sections of the river will be dammed up by several weirs and is used for rowing and paddling exercises. The eye dammed part of the river is called Camp 's Drift. There are plans to expand Camp 's Drift on an official sport and office complex that will also include a canoe slalom course for Olympic standard.
Dusi Canoe Marathon
The Dusi Canoe Marathon is a canoe marathon taking place annually from Pietermaritzburg to Durban. It starts on the Msunduzi and ends on the Mngeni. For race come about 2000 paddlers. About the competition is also reported in the South African mass media.
Water quality
In the area around Pietermaritzburg, the river always contains large amounts of E. coli bacteria, up to 50,000 per 100 milliliters. This means that many water sports health problems get (one survey found that 64 percent). Among the problems are diarrhea ( colloquially called Dusi guts ), but also eye and ear infections and septic cuts. The poor water quality probably comes from the drainage system in the vicinity of the river, which overflows during heavy rains and illegal garbage dumps .. These health risks threaten the annual canoe marathon.
A non-governmental organization, the Foundation Duzi - Umgeni Conservation Trust ( DUCT ), was set up to coordinate projects to improve water quality and preserve the areas around the river. ( From her the above data to come. ) On the advice of the Foundation, the district administration has taken 10 million Rand in 2006 to improve the drainage system in the hand. DUCT also tests trash nets to catch illegally dumped trash and put away.