In the wake of growing public pressure and concerns over sewage spills, the Department of Water and Sanitation (DWS) has warned that it is considering enforcing action against the City due to high levels of pollution in the Milnerton Lagoon.
The department noted that despite efforts by the City to address the pollution, there were still no “noticeable improvements” in the final effluent discharged from the Potsdam Wastewater Treatment Works (WWTW).
Kamogelo Mogotsi, spokesperson for Minister of Water and Sanitation Senzo Mchunu, said this raised concerns of non-compliance with the water use discharge limits.
“Further enforcement actions will be taken should the situation persist,” said Mogotsi.
In the past, the department issued two pre-directives, in 2019 and 2021, against the City regarding the Potsdam plant, and continuous high levels of pollution could trigger a new one.
The City previously responded with an action plan to, among other actions, manage stormwater contributing to the pollution of the Diep River and upgrade and refurbishment of the plant.
Frustrated with the recent independent water test results that continued to show shocking levels of pollution in the Milnerton Lagoon, residents called on the department and the provincial Department of Environmental Affairs and Development Planning to take action.
The provincial department said the City was compliant with the majority of the conditions of the modified directive apart from conditions which had time frames for future dates.
“The department is constantly monitoring the situation and will act within its mandate if and when necessary to ensure compliance with said directive.”
The organisation RethinkTheStink said it was astounding that the Western Cape government was satisfied with the steps taken when there was no improvement in the effluent quality and construction on the new plant had not yet begun which led to the water quality worsening in the Milnerton Lagoon.
The organisation’s spokesperson, Caroline Marx, said the water test results, conducted on January 25 “were worse” than feared with E coli levels at Milnerton Canoe Club measuring a “shocking” 580 000 cfu/100ml.
The safe limit for swimming is below 500 and for canoeing below 1 000.
The results also showed the Potsdam WWTW as being the source of the pollution, with treated effluent measuring 1.56 million cfu/100ml being discharged from the official outlet into the Diep River.
“Even more worryingly, another non-official outlet from an effluent storage pond was identified as discharging effluent containing 2.14 million cfu/100ml into the river.
“Attempts to blame communities upstream from Potsdam for the pollution appear unfounded with E. coli levels in the Diep River above Potsdam measuring 12 100 cfu/100ml,” said the organisation. The City blamed a transformer failure and a leaking valve for the recent pollution and said these affected the quality of the effluent from the official discharge point.
The organisation said the City seemed to have been granted complete immunity against any form of enforcement.
“The City is committing ecocide, and yet the very institutions whose only reason for existence is to protect our water resources and environment are failing to do so,” added Marx.
Acting Mayco member for Water and Sanitation Siseko Mbandezi said the City was doing everything possible to address the pollution and to improve the Milnerton Lagoon and the Diep River environment. It had appointed environmental consultants to investigate and assess possible short-term interventions.
“The valve has been scheduled for repairs and (the department) have been informed of the spill and the status regarding the valve as it stands.
“The plant experienced some process disinfection operational issues on 25 January 2023. The issue has been addressed and resolved, and the City has an external specialist on site to assist with controlled dosing,” he added.
In its recently released 2022 Infrastructure Report, the City acknowledged that infrastructure capacity constraints existed and these were exacerbated by backlogs in investment and maintenance.
The City evaluated its infrastructure delivery plans over the next 10 years, focusing on energy, urban waste management, water and sanitation, human settlements and urban mobility.
Between 2022 and 2031, the City planned to ramp up its spending on “new and upgrade” infrastructure, with R41.36 billion projected for water and sanitation, R11.9bn for human settlements, R23.12bn for urban mobility and R7bn for urban waste management.
Municipal manager Lungelo Mbandazayo said the report was a culmination of years of work that he oversaw and drove across the administration.
“A priority is the enablement of a modernised and adaptive city government. Key to this is optimisation and innovation,” said Mbandazayo.
It also found that neither the Urban Mobility nor Human Settlements directorates had adequate plans to match the scale of the needs in the next five years, nor were there sufficient projects in the five- to 10-year term.
The report also showed that the City did not currently have a full set of stormwater master plans for each catchment area and a process to develop them had a long lead time.
The Western Cape Property Development Forum welcomed the attention being given to the ailing infrastructure and the Potsdam crisis.
Chairperson Deon van Zyl said: “There is, however, a massive backlog in capacity upgrades and maintenance across all services in the City, not least in road infrastructure and human settlements. It is therefore refreshing to read an infrastructure plan that is honest about the status quo and the hard work that still lies ahead.”
“Economic growth and job creation depends on infrastructure capacity; this is the stage on which the economy plays out,” said Van Zyl.
He also noted that the credibility of the plan depended on the implementation of infrastructure projects in the shortest possible time frame.
Weekend Argus