Armed with just buckets and spades, two dozen residents in St Lucia on the KwaZulu-Natal North Coast built a sandbank at the mouth of the uMfolozi River to prevent precious water from flowing out to sea. Their actions come after iSimangaliso Wetland Park authorities used excavators to dig a channel allowing the water to flow from the Lake St Lucia estuary into the ocean.This was the result of an agreement reached during court proceedings late last year after sugarcane farmers took the park to court to demand they breach the estuary and allow water to flow out, which would prevent "back-flooding" of their land.The matter was due to be heard in May, but a temporary agreement was reached between the parties, which meant that when water levels reached more than 1.2m above sea level, the estuary would be breached out to sea.That level was reached last weekend following heavy rains and the breach was dug on Tuesday.iSimangaliso CEO Andrew Zaloumis said valuable water would now be lost to sea. More than 90% of Lake St Lucia's surface water had dried up because of ongoing drought conditions in the province, with 315km² of the 350km² lake "lying exposed and barren"."What [the breach] means is that the fresh water entering the St Lucia Estuary will now flow out to sea. Thousands of litres of fresh water will be lost to the Lake St Lucia system," said Zaloumis.However, residents and business owners took matters into their own hands late on Wednesday.Tour operator Victoria Doyle said about 20 people got together at the breach point on the beach and, using spades and buckets, poured sand into the breach blocking the water from flowing out."We blocked it completely. It's going to take an excavator about two minutes to undo what we did in about two hours, but we had to do something," she said.Their blockage was removed yesterday morning.Doyle said businesses in the town were desperate for the lake and estuary to recover from the drought, and that the heavy rains flowing into the uMfolozi River would have made a difference."St Lucia is a tourism community. Everyone here survives on tourism, and anyone who doesn't, knows someone who does. Everyone relies on tourism and the money it brings in," she said.With the water flowing out to sea instead of remaining in the system, she was worried the lake would dry up even further when the dry winter set in.This would mean boat companies would not be able to operate and tourists would no longer come to the area, a World Heritage Site."This could have been the last chance for the system to fill up," Doyle said.Lawrence Andrew, general manager of Umfolozi Sugar Planters Ltd, who took the matter to court, would not comment yesterday.Zaloumis said he understood where the residents were coming from in blocking the breach."We understand the sentiment, but cannot condone the action. The lake supports more than 6900 direct tourism jobs. The greater good is at stake."When we discovered the blockage we removed it immediately and restored the breach," he said...