Addressed and resolved – this is the ongoing controversy that blazed around a sewerage pipe originally proposed for passage right through the centre of Deneysville.
A small pipeline currently pumps what should be treated effluent into the Vaal Dam near the Department of Water Affairs and Sanitation, closer to the dam wall. The new pipeline laid is much bigger. The Deneysville/Refengkotso waste water treatment works can currently treat 10% of its sewage. The new and bigger pipeline is supposed to help dispose of the remaining 90%. Metsimaholo Municipality (Sasolburg) also plans to settle thousands of indigents in houses in the area as part of their spatial development plan. The ‘reed bed project’ for laying the new pipeline has been STOPPED and the discharge point moved after last week’s input from DWS.The new pipeline was meant to pump even more ‘treated’ effluent to relieve the seriously
The new and bigger pipeline is supposed to help dispose of the remaining 90%. Metsimaholo Municipality (Sasolburg) also plans to settle thousands of indigents in houses in the area as part of their spatial development plan. The ‘reed bed project’ for laying the new pipeline has been STOPPED and the discharge point moved after last week’s input from DWS.The new pipeline was meant to pump even more ‘treated’ effluent to relieve the seriously overburdened waste water treatment works (WWTW) at Refengkgotso, a nearby township. Areas of the dam already sport thick, green water due to a proliferation of blue-green algae as a result of the influx of various pollutants upstream and in the Vaal Dam.
When Metsimaholo and DWS met last week, the ‘reed bed’ part of the project was stopped, but DWS reports that funding to Metsimaholo from DWS Bloemfontein was meant for a collapsed dam wall at the Refengkgotso WWTW. It was not meant for a sewerage pipeline. Over the years, numerous spillages and sewage troubles were reported to environmental pressure group Save the Vaal Environment, (SAVE). Senior manager (Gauteng) Marius Keet previously urged DWS 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.’
The controversy had already come to the attention of the printed and electronic media. “Whether anything comes of this (meeting between Metsimaholo and DWS) remains to be seen,” said a member of the Deneysville Ratepayers Association who was part of a delegation to a recent Vaal Reservoir Forum meeting. She reported: “I was shocked at the apathy. The general excuse is that we have ‘challenges’, mainly due to ‘a huge lack of available funds.’” It was formally conceded that most municipalities underperform and are illegal when it comes to treatment and disposal of waste. DWS doesn’t prosecute municipal offenders as it knows that municipalities cannot comply with DWS regulations. DWS only steps in when a municipality has itself been declared indigent. A major ‘challenge’ of waste water works is constant cable theft, which means inoperable pumps and clarifiers. Replaced cables are simply stolen again. The quarterly Vaal Reservoir Forum was attended by Rand Water, the Department of Water Affairs and Sanitation, Metsimaholo and other stakeholders. The pipeline project previously continued despite a massive petition by residents, legal irregularities, and a damning report by Irene Main of SAVE. Her report was subsequently condoned by DWS. In it, she reported that the Refengkotso sewerage works
DWS doesn’t prosecute municipal offenders as it knows that municipalities cannot comply with DWS regulations. DWS only steps in when a municipality has itself been declared indigent. A major ‘challenge’ of waste water works is constant cable theft, which means inoperable pumps and clarifiers. Replaced cables are simply stolen again. The quarterly Vaal Reservoir Forum was attended by Rand Water, the Department of Water Affairs and Sanitation, Metsimaholo and other stakeholders. The pipeline project previously continued despite a massive petition by residents, legal irregularities, and a damning report by Irene Main of SAVE. Her report was subsequently condoned by DWS. In it, she reported that the Refengkotso sewerage works
The pipeline project previously continued despite a massive petition by residents, legal irregularities, and a damning report by Irene Main of SAVE. Her report was subsequently condoned by DWS. In it, she reported that the Refengkotso sewerage works was over-capacitated by from 90 – 100% and that not a single such facility along the Vaal Dam complied with regulations.
The discharge point of the pipeline is now to be moved one kilometre beyond Deneysville, which at least one Deneysville resident believes is ‘pointless’ as the partially treated effluent still stands to contaminate the drinking and tap water of Gauteng. Water discharged into the Vaal Dam will continuously affect the reservoir’s water quality. Should Metsimaholo experience a water-treatment problem, then water pumped into the dam could be untreated.
“To move the discharge point would make no difference as the effluent will still flow into the dam toward the Rand Water abstraction point,’ says another resident.
