Pump station maintenance to go ahead again
“It has to happen,” is how Ethekwini Water Services senior professional engineer, Andrew Peinke, sees the planned maintenance of Umhlatuzana pump station, which will result in megalitres of raw sewage dumped into the Umhlatuzana River.
The community was up in arms when a plan to dump millions of litres of raw sewage into the Umhlatuzana River was made public in the Sun edition of 22 November. In a media tour of the pump station, Peinke stated the maintenance is necessary to avoid future breakdowns at the pump station.
However, in an article dated 29 November in the Sun, a municipal official was quoted stating that until a proper plan can be formulated with all the risk factors and viable options investigated, the maintenance will not take place.
Two of the three pumps at the station are performing between 30% to 40% efficiency. About 1,200 and 1,520 cubic metres, less than half the volume of an Olympic swimming pool will be pumped into the Umhlatuzana River.
Andrew said, “Both the suction and discharge isolation valves as well as the discharge non-return valve are scheduled for installation. These valves allow EWS to control the flows through each individual pumping circuit, allowing maintenance to be performed on the pumps and non-return valves without affecting the normal operation of the pump station.”
A date has not officially been confirmed for the diversion of the raw sewage. The maintenance could result in the sewage pump station being dormant for 36 hours, resulting in a total spillage of more than 32 megalitres.
Desmond D’s of SDCEA said, “As SDCEA we believe the marine life and the people who live on the river bed and use the water will become the scapegoats on account of officials who failed to consult with affected people. No effort has been made to put a cost factor to the use of trucks to move the sewerage to the other stations, yet we are told this idea is not feasible.” EWS have said the use of honeysuckers will be used to mitigate of 5% of the flow.
Honourary officer for Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife, Dave Joseph said, “I am devastated to hear about the maintenance. In one of my recent walks, I have seen footprints and faecal remains of a rare Cape clawless otter. How is it supposed to survive if there is raw sewage in the water in which it lives? There is also a bush pig which lives along the river.”
During the media briefing, the press was told of planned maintenance carried out in March. Comment from the municipality on the March maintenance was not received at the time of going to press, neither were we able to confirm if the department of health has signed off on the maintenance.
