Avid community leader and founding director of non-profit organisation Masikhathalelaneni, Freddie van Rooyen, has taken the Kouga Municipality to task, alleging that untreated wastewater had been allowed to travel to beaches in the Kouga region.
According to Van Rooyen, his organisation was established in 2017, to deal with integrated disaster management in the Kouga region, such as donating to people who have lost all their belongings in shack fires and to cater for the nutritional needs of the poor.
While visiting Pellsrus Beach in 2019 he said he discovered that sewage was coming out of a storm water outlet and upon investigation he uncovered that a connection was made in Duine Road in Pellsrus which allowed the sewage to travel to the nearby beach.
He then contacted the municipal help desk, and a plumber was sent to the site.
Van Rooyen said when the plumber opened the manhole, it was filled with wastewater.
He soon discovered that another connection had also been made from a different manhole which led to the Jeffreys Bay Main Beach.
Van Rooyen alleged that the connection made from the manhole resulted in wastewater travelling into the sea.
“I realised that this was not a mistake and the connection from the manhole to the sea had been done purposefully,” said Van Rooyen.
He said after reporting the matter to the Department of Water and Sanitation, he opened a criminal case against the municipality.
According to Van Rooyen, despite opening a criminal case, there was no change and the issue continued to persist.
In 2019, when he made the discovery, Van Rooyen said he hoped that the municipality would begin working on a solution to the problem.
While he continued to investigate the matter, he further found that untreated wastewater from the Jeffreys Bay Wastewater Treatment Plant had allegedly been allowed to travel through the Swart River to the Seekoei Estuary and into the Aston Bay Beach.
“This is a major environmental and health concern, and the municipality needs to be honest with people about the sewage that they have been releasing into the environment for many years,” said Van Rooyen.
He said he realised that the water levels at the Seekoei Estuary continued to rise, despite the ongoing drought, which has resulted in the causeway, which links Paradise Beach and Aston Bay, to overflow with water.
Van Rooyen said once the causeway overflows, the municipality then artificially breaches the Seekoei Estuary, which allows the wastewater to travel into the Aston Bay Beach.
“The rain pattern in the drought-stricken Kouga area does not match the rising level at the Seekoei Estuary and residents in Paradise Beach and Aston Bay area have complained many times about the foul smell coming from the Seekoei Estuary,” said Van Rooyen.
According to Kouga Executive Mayor, Horatio Hendricks, the connection made from the manhole in Pellsrus was an emergency high level connection to prevent sewage from flowing into nearby low-lying houses but was blocked a long time ago.
He said numerous precautionary measures were being put in place to reduce sewage spills from the main pump stations.
“Most of the spills are from pipe breakages.
“These pipes are old and the process to replace them has been put in place. This unfortunately can only be dealt with in time, as funding is required and procedures must be followed,” said Hendricks. “Seawater is also monitored monthly by taking water samples along the Main Beach and Pellsrus Beach. The samples from September show low levels of e-coli and enterococci in the seawater. It poses no risk to human health or wildlife.”
He further said the accusations made about untreated water entering the Seekoei Estuary were incorrect.
Hendricks said earlier in the year the e-coli and enterococci levels were outside the acceptable levels due to overflowing manholes in Aston Bay caused by loadshedding, which is why they have placed signboards to inform the public that swimming and fishing are not allowed.
He further said in the past months these levels had come down to acceptable levels where they pose no risk to human health or wildlife.
“Water samples are taken monthly to ensure the safety and quality of the water in the Seekoei Estuary.
“We are currently in discussions to remove the signboards. The signboards were left up as a precautionary measure, should the e-coli and enterococci levels fall outside the acceptable parameters again,” said Hendricks.
He said since wastewater is treated before it enters the river, the quality of the water in the estuary does not pose a risk to human health or wildlife and it therefore would not impact the seawater negatively.
According to provincial economic development, environmental affairs and tourism spokesperson, Ncedo Lisani, his department was made aware of the discharge of sewer water via the Pellsrus manhole, which was reported by a member of the public in 2018.
He further said the exact date the complaint was lodged could only be verified once the regional office could access their server.
“During our investigation it was found that an overflow pipe had been installed in the manhole that drained out towards the coastal area via stormwater drain system. The overflow worked as a means to prevent the effluent overtopping into the road,” said Lisani.
“The Kouga Municipality was instructed to address the matter and ensure no further effluent spillages occurred.”
Regarding the matter of untreated waste water treatment works, he said no report was received from the municipality nor members of the public.
He further said his department was a regular attendee of intergovernmental relations (IGR) and integrated development plan (IDP) sessions hosted by the municipality and this matter was not raised in these forums.
“During August this year joint operation with the Department of Environment, Forestry and Fisheries: Oceans and Coast and the Department of Water and Sanitation, the regulatory authorities for coastal discharge permits and water quality respective findings were made at the Waste Water Treatment works,” said Lisani.
“This report is with the departments involved.”
He said while the matter of the manhole was resolved, the additional allegations were being investigated.
When going to print on Wednesday, October 19, the Department of Water and Sanitation had not responded to questions sent by Kouga Express about the allegations made about the untreated wastewater.
