Local Government, Environmental Affairs and Development Planning:
In the early hours of 1 July 2021, a retention pond near an informal settlement area, Bloekombos, burst its banks spilling raw sewerage into the surrounding houses and causing damage to property and creating an environmental hazard:
(a) Whether the Minister or his Department has taken any action as a result of this incident; if not, why not; if so, what are the relevant details, (b) if action was taken, against whom was the action taken and what are the relevant details, (c) what investigations have been done into the cause of the burst or spillage and what was the outcome, (d) what role did the City of Cape Town’s maintenance or failure of maintenance play, (e) why would a burst retention pond, intended to retain stormwater runoff, result in a sewerage spill, (f) how has the Western Cape provincial government’s Department of Environmental Affairs assisted the community of Kraaifontein, (g) whether the Minister’s Department visited the site and assessed the damage; if so, what are the relevant details, (h) whether the area been sanitised and (i) what caused the dam to burst?
(a) In terms of Schedule 4 Part B of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa 1998 (Act 108 of 1998), “Water and Sanitation Systems limited to potable water supply systems and domestic wastewater and sewage disposal systems is the exclusive responsibility of local government”, in this case the City of Cape Town. Furthermore; in terms of Schedule 4 Part B the provincial Department of Environmental Affairs and the City of Cape Town have a concurrent responsibility with regard to having an oversight role in terms of matters related to pollution. The Provincial DEA&DP does not have the mandate or resources to assist with infrastructure repair and maintenance.
The Bloekombos Pump Station has not been fully operational since February 2021. The matter was reported by the City of Cape Town as an emergency incident in terms of S30 of NEMA, and the required alarm report was submitted. This pumpstation had been vandalized by a ‘spiderweb’ of illegal connections to the Eskom transformer which burnt out resulting in no power to the pumpstation. This resulted in backing up of sewage along the inflowing sewer lines causing overflows at manholes. Although the pump station was non-functional it still allowed the low flows to reach the Kraaifontein WWTW via gravity, under normal, non-rainy conditions.
However, during the winter months with high rainfall, there is a high volume of stormwater ingress into the sewer system which caused the Bloekombos pump station to overflow into the Plantation Road Pond. The City instituted over pumping into a nearby sewer manhole of 150mm diameter. However, heavy rainfall and subsequent flooding significantly increase the risk of the pond bursting its banks and flooding residential properties. Therefore, the City decided to pump into the nearby stormwater channel. Currently no compliance action is being taken other than monitoring the situation.
(b) No enforcement action has been taken at this stage as the investigation is still current and a report on this matter has been requested from the City that may lead to further compliance actions. The SAHRC has also requested information from the City Manager on this matter and the City has undertaken to share their letter of response to this query with the Department as soon as the letter has been sent to the SAHRC, and to keep us informed of the actions taken to resolve the problem.
(c) The Department’s investigations have been telephonic with the relevant City Managers and operational officials. The area is currently unstable, and the volatility makes it unsafe to enter as there have been attacks on various COCT staff attempting to conduct work in the area.
The root cause of the sewage overflows is the illegal occupation of land and vandalism of the Eskom transformer and sanitation infrastructure. This is affecting both Bloekombos and Wallacedene pump stations. A new transformer was installed in the first week of February 2021 and in the same week, people illegally occupied land near the pump station and transgressed onto the pump station premises where they illegally connected to the electricity supply resulting in damage to the transformer and to the pump station. At this stage a diesel generator was introduced and was being operated on a 24/7 basis at high cost to the COCT operational budget (diesel generators are intended for emergencies use during power outages only). The informal community chased away the security guards onsite, resulting in the removal of the generator. The sewage was diverted from the inlet screening chamber into an overflow channel and flows by gravity to the Kraaifontein WWTW. Eskom replaced the transformer in April 2021 and illegal connections were made within 24 hours leading to damage to the transformer and pump station once again. Eskom has indicated that they will not repair the transformer unless illegal residents are removed as damage is likely to recur. The case has been reported to the SAPS for investigation. A fixed generator was installed but became defective (the suspected cause is power surges) in early June and requires repair. A mobile generator was put into use in the interim.
The overflows are exacerbated by illegal dumping into the sewer which cause blockages resulting in sewage overflows.
(d) The City is not responsible for the repair of the transformer as this is Eskom’s property. The City has attempted to continue operations with the use of a diesel generator but have been hampered by continual vandalism and intimidation by the informal settlement as well as solid waste dumping into the sewer system resulting in sewage blockages causing overflows, as described above.
(e) The overflow from the sewer system overflowed into the Plantation Rd Pond, because of the inability to effectively pump the contents of the pond into the nearby sewer pipe due to the high volume of stormwater ingress under adverse weather conditions. Due to the risk that the pond would burst its banks and flow into the residential area, the contaminated water in the pond was pumped into the stormwater channel to prevent flooding to houses.
(f) The delivery of sanitation services is the responsibility of the COCT with assistance from national and provincial grants administered by the DLG and DWS. The DEA&DP is monitoring the City’s actions to ensure that they have taken appropriate steps to try to address the situation.
(g) The DEA&DP has not visited the site during this latest incident but have been to the site of the Plantation Pond on various occasions in the past. Access to the area is currently difficult due to safety concerns and a police escort is required.
(h) & (i) As described above, the filling of the pond due to both sewage overflows and high rainfall caused the earth berm walls to weaken and there was a risk of collapse and flooding. The contents were therefore over pumped to stormwater. The DEA&DP is still to conduct a site visit to confirm whether the site has been sanitised.
