Developers look at on-site wastewater treatment plants

IN an attempt to skip the current moratorium on developments that was passed by the City last year, property developers are now moving to propose private wastewater treatment plants on-site for their proposed applications.

This comes as the Greater Table View Action Forum (GTAF) is fighting yet another development application, this time at Marine Circle, where the developer has proposed a private wastewater treatment plant on site. This, the group said, is the third application of this nature received since the moratorium was passed.

In November, the group was up in arms over a "monstrous" development application at 21 Canary Crescent, Sunridge where an application that was brought forward by the First Plan Town Planners on behalf of Flandorp Family Property Trust planned to install a temporary on-site private wastewater treatment plant for the period of the Potsdam Water Waste Treatment Works’s (WWTW) upgrade to conclude by 2026.

The new application proposes to rezone Erf 35099 from General Business 3 to General Business 7 which would allow a variety of 244 residential units, a hotel and commercial use, including restaurants. In its application, Elco Property Developments said the system would be in place temporarily to allow for on-site treatment until such time that sufficient capacity was available.

TGAF planning and biodiversity head David Ayres said private wastewater treatment plants had no place in a residential area and posed a great risk to the environment, health and well-being of residents.

He said the application made no provision for electrical outages such as load shedding and allowing a generator in the area would disturb residents. Ayres said wastewater plants needed specialist management which would need to be on-site to deal with technical issues and breakdowns, and that this has not been catered for.

“In its current form, the application would damage the environment as there is no capacity to deal with the wastewater at Potsdam. The inclusion of a wastewater treatment plant would need to be passed by the national government that would need to consider its possible damage to the environment. Whilst the City has no objection to a private wastewater treatment plant, it is not the correct authorising body,” Ayres said.

Ayres said the application could only be supported once the Potsdam WWTW plant was upgraded and there was sufficient capacity to deal with a development of this kind.

The City recently said its plans for the upgrades of the Potsdam WWTW were progressing well, with the first phase, being the demolition of the property already complete.

Ayres said the City had failed in its constitutional obligations to provide an environment that would not harm its residents.

“The same people who are responsible for the lack of investment in our wastewater treatment infrastructure and the destruction of our environment are the same people who now do not object to these private wastewater treatment plants,” he said.

Spatial Planning and Environment Mayco member Eddie Andrews said developers may propose alternative methods of dealing with wastewater for consideration by the City.

Water and Sanitation Mayco member Zahid Badroodien said the department was putting together a Standard Operating Procedure for handling the Sewer Package Plant Applications for the catchment areas of Zandvliet, Macassar and Potsdam WWTW.