Court bid to stop city contaminating waterways

THE Minister of Water and Sanitation has gone to the Gauteng High Court, Pretoria, to interdict the City of Tshwane from allowing raw or partially-treated sewage to be discharged from four wastewater treatment works around the city.

The department expressed concern that water – allegedly contaminated – posed a risk to residents, animals and agricultural activities in the capital.

A department official said in court papers: “The failure of the respondent (the city) to keep the wastewater treatment and processing machinery operational has a direct negative impact on the function of the city’s sewer systems.”

It affected drinking and irrigation water quality, posing a health risk to humans and livestock, he said.

The city conceded there were problems, but said it was trying its best to address these; budget constraints and vandalising of equipment made its task difficult.

These problems had been in the making for the past eight years, the city said.

It questioned the rush by the department, over the festive season, to obtain an urgent interdict.

Mapula Khuduga of the department said in an affidavit that there had been waste water challenges since 2010 at the Rooiwal, Klipgat, Baviaanspoort and Sunderland Ridge treatment plants.

He said raw or partially-treated sewage was being discharged into the Apies, Tolwane, Pienaars and Hennops rivers affecting drinking water supply systems around the city and in surrounding communities.

All these areas fall under the City of Tshwane.

Khuduga said it had urged the city since 2010 to put in more effort to improving the quality of effluent flowing into the Apies River, especially.

Inspections over the years showed the problem also persisted at other waste treatment plants which discharged into the rivers.

Khuduga said that the city had over a period failed to take reasonable measures to prevent the pollution continuing. This was in spite of directives put in place and meetings on the subject.

One of the problems was that the Rooiwal plant discharged raw sewerage downstream and caused water pollution which affected drinking water at the Temba Water Treatment Works. The sludgehandling facilities could not cope with the volume of sludge produced at the works and 16 water filters were not operating.

It was concluded that Rooiwal continued to pollute the Apies River with partially-treated sewage and poor sludge management.

Similar problems were experienced at the Klipgat treatment plant, which received waste water from Ga-Rankuwa, Mabopane and some parts of Winterveldt and Soshanguve.

Khuduga said recent inspections proved that these problems persisted.

“There is no alternative remedy available to the applicant to stop the respondent’s unlawful water use activities than asking the court’s immediate intervention,” Khuduga said.

Simon Sithole of the city’s legal department responded that it was not true that the city was doing nothing about these problems.

There were ongoing problems and as soon as one problem was fixed, another arose, he said. Problems included theft of equipment and electric cables, as well as load shedding.

Sithole said the “urgent court” was not the forum to address these issues, as AfriForum had launched a similar application against the city, to be heard on February7.

Judge Dawie Fourie removed the matter from the roll before the court recess on technical grounds.