Poo big money and big trouble

Ageing network pollutes Vaal River

Loads of poo from different cities and towns in Gauteng and the Free State – which bring in revenue for the Emfuleni local municipality – is now causing a stink.

Emfuleni, which finds itself at the receiving end of sewage due to its geographical location, was battling to manage the waste water due to its ageing infrastructure.

The City of Joburg alone sent down about 30 megalitres of sewage daily, which Emfuleni charged about R2.7m per month, Emfuleni spokesperson Lebo Mofokeng said.

Emfuleni local municipality has now found itself facing a water pollution crisis which has forced the SA Human Rights Commission to institute an inquiry into the sewage spilling into the Vaal River, something that has been happening for years.

The waste arrangement between Emfuleni and Johannesburg has been in place since 2000.

Other municipalities that also contribute to Emfuleni’s problems are Metsimaholo, Ekurhuleni and Midvaal as they are located along the Vaal River. Mofokeng said Emfuleni was geographically situated at the bottom of the landscape and, naturally, waste water was moved downstream, causing the municipality’s 33 of its 44 waste water pumps to malfunction.

With the infrastructure – most of which was built in the 1950s – under immense pressure, the municipality has not coped with an estimated 150 megalitres of raw sewage coming into the system daily.