The
- The
City of Cape Town has been pumping more sewage into the sea atHout Bay than it is allowed to do. - Data obtained by
Action SA shows the City has contravened the discharge permit granted by theDepartment of Forestry , Fisheries and the Environment. - ActionSA has laid a criminal charge for violation of the Integrated Coastal Management Act.
The
Raw sewage from
The permit for the release of sewage through the
But according to information from the City obtained via a Promotion of Access to Information Act (
ActionSA has now laid a criminal charge for violation of the Integrated Coastal Management Act.
The data and documents obtained by Wasserman show that the City pumped more than the maximum allowed volume of five million litres of sewage per day from the outfall on 104 out of 181 days in the first six months of this year. On six of these days, the City released more than double the allowed maximum volume of sewage into the ocean, releasing as much as 12.5-million litres on one day. The pipe is designed to manage a maximum of 9.6-million litres a day.
Over the six-month period, the City released over one billion litres of sewage through the
According to the permit conditions, the maximum allowed volume must not be exceeded without authorisation from the DFFE. Wasserman says the City told her "no authorisation was received".
The data provided by the City also shows that sewage quality did not meet minimum standards.
Levels were exceeded for the amount of suspended solids in the sewage effluent, the chemical oxygen demand, and the pH. On some days these levels were not even measured. No results were provided for the levels of arsenic, cadmium, calcium, copper, chromium, cyanide, or mercury, all of which are supposed to be measured weekly.
The permit granted by the DFFE in 2019 stipulates that the City must set up or join a
"From the
Wasserman notes in her affidavit that the City's failure to comply with the conditions of the outfall discharge permit means it falls foul of the Integrated Coastal Management Act of 2008. She has asked the police to investigate the contravention of the Act.
Wasserman said she did not submit a
City responds
City water and sanitation mayco member Zahid Badroodien said, "The City continues to operate the marine outfalls with current permits and licence conditions as issued by the
Badroodien said the City welcomed Minister Creecy's determination that the City should conduct a public participation process on the granting of permits for the three marine outfalls in the city.
He said the City has also commissioned a study to determine the feasibility and cost of treating the sewage before releasing it into the ocean, or alternatively, pumping it to existing sewage treatment works. A draft scoping report for the study was under review, he said, and once the report was finalised there would be further community engagements regarding the outfalls.
Copyright 2023 GroundUp. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com)., source