Cape Town - Following outrage at the Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment’s (DFFE) decision to grant the City permits to pump sewage that’s gone through a fine screening process into the ocean at three of its coastal outfalls for five years, the City defended itself by saying there was no associated evidence of harmful marine impacts.
ActionSA lambasted the City for continuing to pump “raw sewage” using its coastal outfall pipes at Green Point, Camps Bay and Hout Bay from as early as 1895 with the sewage only being treated in the 1920s before being discharged into the sea.
Michelle Wasserman, ActionSA Western Cape provincial chairperson, said that since then, all the City had done was extend the length of the outflow pipe at Green Point and build new pipes at Camps Bay and Hout Bay for this discharge.
Wasserman said that ActionSA was in the process of finalising its appeal to the DFFE to stop the discharge of entreated effluent being pumped into the ocean.
The National Sea Rescue Institute has also appealed against the granting of the permits at all three outfalls.
Water and Sanitation Mayco member Siseko Mbandezi said: “The DFFE granted the permit for a further five years, having assessed that all three outfalls are operating within the limits of marine environmental standards as determined by current pollution guidelines with no associated evidence of deleterious marine impacts. This is currently in the appeal phase.”
DFFE spokesperson Albi Modise said the department reviewed the individual applications for the different waste water treatment works (WWTWs) and granted the permits for the outfalls, but made it conditional in the permit that the City must investigate ways to improve the effluent.
Mbandezi said the City was assessing the feasibility of measures to mitigate the environmental impact of the three coastal outfalls, including additional higher level pre-treatment on land prior to discharge.
As part of the permitting requirements, the City was also required to do a marine impact assessment study to assess the impact of the effluent on the receiving environment, and the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) was appointed by the City to do a marine impact assessment.
Modise said: “The findings of the abovementioned study indicated that there is no immediate ecological disaster or major risks to human health. The City cannot stop operations of the WWTWs as the municipality is responsible for the delivery of water and sanitation services to the citizens.”
kristin.engel@inl.co.za