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Wendy Stone of the Dept of Microbiology in the Faculty of Science, Stellenbosch University, is doing her Masters on the occurrence of anammox bacteria (yes, readers, I also raised my eyebrows at that one) in South Africa. Her Associate Professor Alf Botha and Jan Wilsenach (CSIR), an expert on the anammox process, act as her study leaders on a joint project between the two organisations.
The overall aim of this project, which is largely sponsored by the Water Research Commission, is to search for anammox bacteria in South Africa. Writes Alf, “Under unaerobic conditions, these bacteria use nitrite to oxidize ammonium mainly to nitrogen gas.” He explained to me that this process has the potential to be used by the waste water industry in South Africa.
One of the sampling sites that they identified as a possible natural habitat of anammox bacteria was St Helena Bay – and that’s where Andrew Pascall, laboratory manager at CSIR and colleague Alistair Adonis (who, with his family, stayed at Dolphin B&B+S/C) proved invaluable.
So it was that this happy little band spent Valentine’s weekend scraping the proverbial bottom of the barrel, that being the bed of the bay. Follow the red lines in the sketch to trace their route.
Alistair, skipper of Waverider, CSIR’s outsize rubberduck that sports 2X90 4-stroke engines, steered them out to sea in what was one of the gustiest days we’ve experienced this season. In situ the multi-corer was dropped and scooped up the requisite samples, which were then retrieved by the Davit system that operates on the vessel.
I know both Alistair and Andrew from the St Helena Bay Water Quality Trust (when I was manager till November 2008 and now a trustee) and who managed the bacteriological sample collection on behalf of the Trust. Alistair has upgraded his licensing to 40 nautical miles and the group was in excellent hands and the few herbies were not of his doing. As Alf puts it, “Without them sampling in the scientific manner would have been impossible. They could tell the properties of the sea bed and, very importantly, they were able to get us there and back in one piece.”
The overall aim of this project, which is largely sponsored by the Water Research Commission, is to search for anammox bacteria in South Africa. Writes Alf, “Under unaerobic conditions, these bacteria use nitrite to oxidize ammonium mainly to nitrogen gas.” He explained to me that this process has the potential to be used by the waste water industry in South Africa.
One of the sampling sites that they identified as a possible natural habitat of anammox bacteria was St Helena Bay – and that’s where Andrew Pascall, laboratory manager at CSIR and colleague Alistair Adonis (who, with his family, stayed at Dolphin B&B+S/C) proved invaluable.
So it was that this happy little band spent Valentine’s weekend scraping the proverbial bottom of the barrel, that being the bed of the bay. Follow the red lines in the sketch to trace their route.
Alistair, skipper of Waverider, CSIR’s outsize rubberduck that sports 2X90 4-stroke engines, steered them out to sea in what was one of the gustiest days we’ve experienced this season. In situ the multi-corer was dropped and scooped up the requisite samples, which were then retrieved by the Davit system that operates on the vessel.
I know both Alistair and Andrew from the St Helena Bay Water Quality Trust (when I was manager till November 2008 and now a trustee) and who managed the bacteriological sample collection on behalf of the Trust. Alistair has upgraded his licensing to 40 nautical miles and the group was in excellent hands and the few herbies were not of his doing. As Alf puts it, “Without them sampling in the scientific manner would have been impossible. They could tell the properties of the sea bed and, very importantly, they were able to get us there and back in one piece.”
