27/10/2021
WE MUST TACKLE THE PROBLEM OF SEWAGE VIGOROUSLY
The problem of sewage is a big and serious one. Voters, therefore, should ask those whom they are going to be voting for to give a clear and unequivocal undertaking that they will give priority to solving the problem of blocked drains, sewage overflow, use of marine outfalls and inadequate as well as insufficient waste water treatment.
With a growing population, increased residential density and ageing infrastructure, such an undertaking is important as it is urgent. Sewage has become a great menace in Cape Town.
Discharging effluent into the coastal waters of Cape Town was OK thirty years ago. Now, however, with a huge increase in population, this is no longer tenable. Sending untreated f***l matter direct from toilet to sea is having a deleterious effect on the sea bed and sea water.
In 2015, Dr Jo Barnes, Senior Lecturer Emeritus at the University of Stellenbosch warned in a letter to the Provincial government that “The heavy reliance on dilution ignores the fact that continuous discharge will have an accumulative effect on a semi-restricted body of water such as Table Bay. Besides, dilution is not the only mechanism that operates in the sea.
Various components of the effluent tend to accumulate or agglomerate in the marine environment while some organisms and chemical compounds will eventually bioaccumulate in the food chain. This process is not linear - it accelerates over time and thus its effects become more and more noticeable as the disposal process carried on unrelentingly.
Fat particles especially tend to agglomerate and form 'fat balls'. Disease-causing organisms such as viruses and bacteria tend to cling to the fat particles and can survive for much longer in these fat balls than previously thought. Grease of mineral origin is furthermore resistant to biodegradation and can linger in the environment for much longer than previously thought.”
http://gctca.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/Comment-Barnes-Application-for-a-Coastal-Waters-Discharge-Permit-corrected.pdf?fbclid=IwAR2mIIYKL8T1DQxRhLHxV5ncblwe4K0jONGZT4VNbZI7WkBJ28L73VXNDf4
In Gordon’s Bay, research found that often the change in the tidal movement from clockwise to anticlockwise sent the poo back to where it came from. How disgusting to be swimming in water that is full of poo.
This is not the only problem with sewage. Sewage is flowing onto the roads in many parts of our city and into streams and into Zeekoevlei and Zandvlei and into other water bodies. The Diep River is terribly contaminated and detracts from the loveliness of Milnerton Beach..
How much worse must the situation get before drastic remedial action is taken?
COPE wishes other political parties will join with it to tackle vigorously and continuously the flow of sewage into our rivers, vleis, ocean and our streets as well. This menace has to be stopped.
