The South African political party, ActionSA, has expressed its shock and announced that it will be launching an appeal against the granting of a permit to the City of Cape Town to continue pumping raw sewage into the ocean.
Also read: Sewage on the seashore: Here’s what’s causing Cape Town’s beach closures
The political party’s provincial chairperson for the Western Cape, Michelle Wasserman, said the party had been disturbed to find out that the Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment (DFFE) had granted the City’s application to pump raw sewage into the ocean at Green Point, Camps Bay and Hout Bay for a further five years.
Wasserman said, “Raw sewage has been pumped into the ocean just off Cape Town’s beaches since the construction of a sewage outfall pipe at Green Point in 1895. In the early 1920’s, following an enteric fever outbreak, the then chief engineer recommended that all sewage be treated before being discharged into the sea. Since then, all the City has done is to extend the length of the outflow pipe at Green Point and build new pipes at Camps Bay and Hout Bay.”
“Numerous agencies and universities have researched the negative impact of these sewage outflows on the environment. The University of Stellenbosch has fiercely opposed the previous permit application in 2015, providing reasons that have neither been addressed nor mentioned in the current DFFE permit approval.”
“To pump raw sewage into a Marine Protected Area is a clear violation of our Constitutional right to an environment that is not harmful to health.”
ActionSA is in the process of finalising an appeal against the decision to grant the City permission to continue pumping raw sewage into our oceans.
The City’s Acting Mayoral Committee member for Water and Sanitation, Councillor Siseko Mbandezi, has confirmed that the permit was granted for a further five years after an assessment was done on the outfalls to ensure that it’s operating within the limits of marine environmental standards.
In a statement by the City’s Acting Mayoral Committee member for Water and Sanitation, Councillor Siseko Mbandezi said, “The DFFE granted the permit for a further five years having assessed that all three outfalls are operating within the limits of marine environmental standards as determined by current pollution guidelines with no associated evidence of deleterious marine impacts. This is currently in the appeal phase.”
“The City through its policies has committed itself to the protection and management of Cape Town’s extraordinary natural environment, and is continuously working towards reducing environmental pollution through the application of best practise and technology across all of its operations and service delivery.”
“This includes multi-billion rand upgrades to wastewater treatment works and the sewer network which will have a meaningful positive impact on inland and coastal water quality.”
Councillor Mbandezi adds, “The City is in addition assessing the feasibility of measures to further mitigate the environmental impact of the three coastal outfalls, including additional higher level pre-treatment on land prior to discharge.”
“For clarity regarding the history of the outfalls, prior to the 1920s at Greenpoint, sewage used to be discharged directly at the beach after which a small pipe was extended into the sea. In the 1980s this was then built and upgraded as a proper designed deep sea marine outfall in accordance with coastal engineering requirements to extend over 1.7km out to sea.”
“At Camps Bay there was also just a shore discharge which was changed to a proper deep sea marine outfall in the late 1970s. At Hout Bay there was a shore discharge just on the sentinel side of the harbour until a proper outfall was built in late 1980s early 1990s.”
“The sewage is screened to remove solids before release,” concludes Councillor Mbandezi.
Also read:
The City urges less water usage as dam levels continue to drop
Picture: Unsplash