Picture: Hout Bay beach. Cape Town’s Sewage Gamble: Unlimited discharges spark outrage amid environmental and health fears. File Picture: Kristin Engel
Cape Town - The City of Cape Town’s Directorate for Water and Sanitation maintains that it treats the sewage discharged into the Green Point, Camps Bay, and Hout Bay marine outfalls, adding that it does not exceed the existing daily limit released into the ocean.
The directorate was responding to claims by the GOOD Party, which criticised it and the Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment (DFFE) for contributing to environmental pollution by pumping untreated sewage into marine outfalls.
In a statement, GOOD national youth chairperson Kaden Arguile blasted the DFFE for granting the City the interim decision to suspend the effluent quantity discharge permits, which he said has allowed the City to discharge even more sewage into water bodies, affecting the environment.
The interim suspension of coastal waters discharge permits (CWDP) held by the City was announced by the DFFE in August, authorising the local municipality to discharge volumes of treated effluent at its discretion, exceeding previous limits of 41 million litres per day across the three outfalls.
Arguile criticised Minister of Foresty, Fisheries and the Environment, Dion George, for giving ‘unchecked’ powers to the City to monitor these processes during the suspension.
Speaking for the DFFE, Minister George stated that the City had been hosting permit advisory meetings as required, where the public was timeously informed about proceedings pertaining to the outfalls’ compliance.
Meanwhile, the City said that at its last public advisory forum on marine outfalls, held on October 28, that reports were tabled indicating that marine outfalls demonstrate compliance with regulatory standards for safety and environmental parameters.
The City’s Water and Sanitation Mayco member, Zahid Badroodien, said: “Regardless of the suspension of the volume limits by the DFFE, we still consider the volume limits in our original licence as the limits against which we should be measured.”
The City outlined current sewage discharge limits, stating that Hout Bay is permitted just under four million cubic metres annually, Green Point up to 16 million cubic metres, and Camps Bay approximately two million cubic meters. These volumes include allowances for stormwater runoff and are monitored against original permit conditions.
“Unlimited volumes are therefore not currently permissible but guided by the above. It is the considered legal position of the City that the Water Act licence provisions for volumes currently apply. So, it’s incorrect to claim that there will be uncontrolled discharges into the ocean,” Badroodien said. He acknowledged that marine outfalls may not be a sustainable solution in the long term.
Hout Bay community councillor Paul Jacobson said the community was not happy with the directive by the DFFE to lift the limits on effluent the City could discharge into outfalls.
“We are struggling with 50 million litres of raw sewage being discharged into our marine outfalls. Simultaneously, we are going over and above to market ourselves as the ultimate destination in South Africa, if not the world, but we cannot cope with the congestion.
“The lack of law enforcement and, most certainly, how we dispose of our raw sewage is outrageous. Plenty of environmental professionals have spoken out against this, but it is falling on deaf ears. We are very disappointed with the new minister for allowing any amount of sewage to be discharged. The impact of the pollution is disastrous,” said Jacobson.
Stellenbosch University Department of Global Health senior lecturer Dr Jo Barnes expressed concern about the increasing amounts of untreated soiled water in water bodies around the Cape Peninsula.
“The sea is not a ‘delete button.’ It does not simply eliminate sewage or make it harmless by dilution. After decades of dumping sewage, the damage to the ocean and the contamination levels being picked up are unacceptable.
“There are very clear health risks involved in the widespread dissemination of sewage in the sea. It contaminates marine life, including seafood that is consumed by people, poses health risks to recreational sea and beach users, and adds to the caseload of our already overburdened health services. This source of sewage needs urgent attention to reduce the damage to people and the environment,” Barnes said.
nomalanga.tshuma@inl.co.za