Sewage pollution from Emfuleni system sparks health and ecological ‘crisis’

POLLUTION from the Emfuleni local council’s sewage system has “reached crisis proportions”, contaminating the Vaal River and causing an ecological disaster, a local NGO has warned.

“Recently, the council’s sanitation workers downed tools over a dispute about protective clothing,” said Maureen Stewart, spokesperson for Save the Vaal, yesterday.

“Workers prevented maintenance of pump stations, which led to major raw sewage spillages into the Vaal River and the streets of Emfuleni.”

The theft of cables and pump station equipment worsened the situation, she said.

“Soon after this dispute was resolved, angry construction workers at the Sebokeng Waste Water Treatment Plant and community members prevented employees entering the plant, causing a shutdown.

“The lock-out happened when Emfuleni stopped work on the Module 6 expansion project because of lack of funding for this project.

“The closure of the plant caused 150 megalitres of raw sewage to flood into the Rietspruit and Vaal rivers for eight days. This included waste water from Joburg Water which is treated at the Sebokeng works.”

E-coli counts in the Rietspruit were over 240000 per 100 ml of water during this period. “This created a serious health risk, especially to the people of Sebokeng, and an ecological disaster.

“This serious spillage has added to the Rietspruit’s nearly 2m layer of silt built up from poorly treated effluent.”

Save the Vaal has accused the Department of Water and Sanitation of doing little about the spillages.

“Save reminded spokesperson Sputnik Ratau that it is the legislated responsibility of the department to protect the quality of South Africa’s raw water resources.”

The Sebokeng plant was eventually re-opened last week after the department’s intervention.

“This situation is indicative of the department’s disregard of its responsibility to prevent pollution of raw water resources. There are 20-plus waste water treatment plants managed by local councils, that continuously pollute the Vaal River with non-compliant effluent. This situation seems to be ignored by the department,” said the NGO.

The Emfuleni local council, which could not be reached yesterday, was in contempt of several court orders granted to Save the Vaal, the most recent in February.

Save the Vaal said Emfuleni’s sanitation team was not provided with the required funds to maintain and run the waste water treatment system.

“Save’s e-mails and hand-delivered correspondence to the municipal manager are ignored. Recent raw sewage spillages included the failure of the pumping system in Vereeniging, several pipe bursts and an overflowing manhole at Phelindaba cemetery in Sharpville.

“The latter has been ongoing for more than a year, creating a ‘lake’ of raw sewage. Save is also concerned about the amount of non-compliant effluent being pumped into the river from all three of Emfuleni’s waste water treatment plants.”

It welcomed the announcement of the Gauteng Legislature’s application for the Emfuleni local council to be placed under administration.

“It is to be hoped that the administrator will give priority to resolving the pollution issues and creating a clean, healthy environment for the Emfuleni community, a basic right of all South Africans.”

Ratau said the Sebokeng works were functional. “The problem is for as long as the unrest continues, how do you expect technical people to go on site?”