BCM mum on sewage spout plan
Extending outflow can affect sea life, beaches, disregards water conservation
ENVIRONMENTAL concerns have been raised over a Buffalo City Metro report which proposes to extend its sewage outflow pipeline 1.4km into the ocean.
Kevin Cole, principal scientist at the East London Museum, said this proposed marine outfall pipeline was not the ideal option and showed a “lack of commitment to a longer-term solution for a growing metro in terms of dealing with effluent and reducing the cumulative effects of pollutants in the marine environment”.
The draft environmental impact assessment (EIA) report proposes the development of the West Bank waste water treatment works outfall pipeline to extend 1.4km into the ocean to replace the existing pipeline which discharges into the surf zone.
The proposed project is expected to cost more than R20-million.
According to this draft EIA, the current discharge pipeline, which is the emergency pipeline “extends in a south-east direction under Molteno Drive and into the Transnet National Ports Authority [TNPA] area”.
This waste is discharged onto exposed rocks in the low tide zone.
The sewage discharged through the pipeline originates from the western sewer line and the north-eastern sewer line and is made up of a combination of “raw mixed domestic and industrial sewage from the West Bank, and waste activated sludge from the East Bank WWTW [waste water treatment works],” according to the report.
Cole said the marine outfall option was of great concern as it demonstrated a lack of compliance by BCMM to environmental regulations pertaining to water quality discharged into the ocean.
He said the lack of compliance was an acknowledged transgression over the decades both at Hood Point and the East Bank Waste Water reclamation works.
Cole was also concerned about the possibility of pollution of nearby beaches.
“Coastal offshore marine dynamics were last evaluated many years ago and the implications of the marine pipeline worst case’ scenario in terms of pollution to the adjacent beaches cannot be quantified, he said.
Cole believed the best case scenario would be a land-based water treatment works.
“A 1993 study, by Watermeyer Prestedge Retief, commented that a land-based treatment works would be necessary in the future for the West Bank. In part, to accommodate developments and to provide stabilised sludge as a soil conditioner for adjacent agricultural land.
“At a later stage, [depending on water needs] final effluent can be pumped to the Bridle Drift dam for indirect water re-use purposes.
“These comments still stand firm today. The land-based option recognises water as a critical resource which should be conserved.
“The marine outfall pipeline reinforces a careless attitude to water conservation,” he said.
Neil Smith, an executive committee member of the DA, said: “The exclusion of a land-based works in the proposal is justified by the greater capital cost being carried by the ratepayer. This seems to us to be factually incorrect. The cost of the capital project should be carried by government and not passed to the ratepayer.”
Smith brought up concerns regarding the surrounding natural environment saying: “It has come to our attention that the Potters Pass nature reserve had proposals submitted to BCM for expansion of the reserve which were, apparently, accepted in principle by BCM. The demarcation maps for this proposed extension indicate that the Hood Point works will fall within this boundary. This is one of the few remaining grassland biomes of its sort in the East London area and is an important conservation priority.”
Questions sent to BCM on Thursday last week had not been answered by the time of print. The draft report will be available for public comment until May 28.
Written comments can be submitted to and PO Box 2613, Cape Town, 8001. A PDF of the report can be downloaded from the Watermeyer Prestedge Retief website
A physical copy can be picked up at the East London public library or at the BCM offices in Oxford Street.