Council blamed for sewage spillage into Vaal River
THE CASH-strapped Emfuleni local municipality, which is currently under administration, risks being dragged to court again for failing to stop raw sewage spillages into the Vaal River.
Save the Vaal Environment (SAVE) vice chairperson Maureen Stewart said this was the worst crisis for the river, adding the watchdog had obtained nine court orders against the municipality over the years.
The recent interdict was granted in February by South Gauteng High Court Judge Bashier Vally, stopping the municipality from allowing raw sewage from the wastewater management system and sewer reticulation system into the river’s catchment area.
This was particularly from the Rietspruit Leeuwkuil wastewater treatment works.
“SAVE will return to court if immediate action is not taken to deal with the disaster. As we speak, the municipality is in contempt of court. The pollution, which poses a risk to people’s health, has been going on for far too long, and we demand action.
“Daily 150 megalitres of raw sewage is flowing into the Rietspruit and Vaal rivers. Sewage pollution has flowed downstream beyond Parys. This town relies on water from the Vaal River, which is treated for domestic use,” Stewart said.
She said they want answers regarding the upgrade of the Sebokeng Regional Sewer Scheme (SRSS).
The environmental watchdog’s chairperson, Malcolm Plant, noted in an August 7 statement, after the death of fish on the Vaal River near the Barrage, that the Department of Water and Sanitation had said a 2010 investigation into the situation had showed “most of the fish kills in the area are caused by chronic stress conditions due to the sustained lower oxygen concentration, which is a result of natural variations”.
“We are concerned that the statement is intended to mislead the public... The truth of the matter is that the river between the Vaal Dam and Parys (in the Free State) is so polluted at present, it retains very little ‘natural’ function, and it is no surprise fish are suffocating in what has become an open sewer,” Plant said in an open letter to Water and Sanitation Minister Gugile Nkwinti.
He said the department had “failed dismally to discharge its constitutional mandate to protect the water resources of the country, and this is most acutely illustrated by the state of the Vaal River at present, a condition it has been in for more than a decade”.
In a joint statement, the department, Rand Water, the Gauteng government, and the Sedibeng and Emfuleni municipalities said they were working hard towards the resolution of the matters surrounding the state of the Vaal River.
“A number of issues that surround the non-performance of particularly the SRSS are being looked into, and proper planning towards their resolution is being put in place.
“This includes ongoing engagement with the local community to update it on progress and the importance of the scheme working.
“This resulted in the blockade of the scheme being lifted and the technical staff being allowed back on site.
“In order to ensure the security of this very important infrastructure, Minister Nkwinti has taken a decision to approach the president (Cyril Ramaphosa) so as to declare the SRSS a national key point.
“This will lead to not just heightened security around the facility but its operations not being interrupted by civil strife,” the statement read.
The statement said Nkwinti would “revert to Parliament to find condonement of the intended reprioritisation as envisaged to look at ensuring that not just module 6 of the SRSS is completed, but that modules 2 to 5 are also brought back to full capacity,” the statement said.