Pipeline troubles in Deneysville

It seems to be full steam ahead for a sewerage pipeline through town.
This is in spite of overwhelming local opposition.
A concerned resident recently reported delivery of pipes and ongoing excavations that include a dam in town.
Previously reported were residents’ claims of no environmental impact assessment (EIA), no correct tender process and no public participation process.
These concerns were also expressed by local businesswoman Kathy Manten and DA Councillor Johan Geyser.
“The excavation for the pipeline is already about two-kilometres long and a dam has been excavated in the middle of town,” reports a resident.
The ongoing excavation is through the centre of Deneysville for a proposed Reed Bed to be filled from the sewerage plant at Refengkotoso, a nearby township.
Irene Main of Save the Vaal Environment (SAVE) previously reported that the existing sewerage works at Refengkotso was over capacity by 90%.
Her report was then endorsed by the Department of Water Affairs and Sanitation, DWAF.
The result of a DWAF inspection was a notice of intention to stop construction of a sewerage pipeline right through Deneysville to deliver partially treated effluent into the Vaal Dam.
The notice had not emerged 48 days later when feedback was expected 21 days later.
Ms Manten said, “We (residents) have received no feedback despite two e-mails on this issue.
“We are desperate to prevent an ecological disaster and Metsimaholo is just carrying on with the project without an environmental impact assessment.”
Main said not one sewerage treatment works along the Vaal Dam complied with regulations. Ms Manten’s concerns include that most of the partially treated effluent will be pumped into Ratepayers Bay, an area of Vaal Dam that has no free flow, which guarantees damage to the environment. She says turquoise algae is already a strong sign of pollutants. “Pollution will build up in that area and cannot go anywhere because there is no through-flow,” Manten reports. A resident even lodged a complaint with Senior Manager Marius Keet of the Department of Water Affairs and Sanitation: Gauteng. In it he warned that ‘all press and Carte Blanche will be informed’.
This echoes previous input from DA councillor Johan Geyser, then involved in a massive residents’ petition against a pipeline through town. Geyser said press enquiries had already come from Carte Blanche and 50/50. The environmental reporter of a daily newspaper is also involved.
Mr Keet acknowledged the situation by urging colleagues to ‘decide how to take this matter forward … without delay as this will reach the newspapers and we have to stop it before that happens’.