A malfunction at the Camps Bay marine outfall plant last week resulted in sewage flooding the pump station and a section of the beach being closed.
In February 2022, the plant caused a stench as an electrical fault rendered its pumps ineffective and this had also caused flooding of the pump station (“Camps Bay marine outfall causes a stink”, February 11, 2022).
According to the Mayoral committee member for water and sanitation, Dr Zahid Badroodien, a loose flange on pump 1 caused the pump station to overflow.
“An unexpected mechanical failure at Camps Bay Pump Station on Monday, 29 July necessitated emergency repair works. These have already been completed and the affected sections of the beach reopened again.”
Dr Badroodien said City Health took water samples throughout the week to test the quality until it met the National Water Quality Guidelines for safe recreational activities.
“Water quality test results were compliant on Wednesday, 31 July and these results were communicated on Thursday, 1 August. The pollution advisory signs were taken down on Thursday. The final results were returned on Thursday, 1 August as being compliant and meeting the required water quality standards. The public was informed of the incident and the reopening via the City’s communication channels once the restricted access has been lifted.”
Professor Leslie Petrik, the group leader of environmental and nano sciences at the University of the Western Cape, said the testing does not reflect the reality on the ground.
“The currents move the sewage around and whether its (sewage) coming from the pump station or via a marine outfall, it’s still many kilolitres or megalitres per day that’s going out into the bay. A lot of that pollution ends up on the beach, in the sand, we have found that the swash zone (wet sand on the beach) is actually where the highest bacterial counts are and the City never tests that, they have their particular stations where they test,” Professor Petrik said.
Dr Jo Barnes, senior lecturer emeritus in the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences at Stellenbosch University, agreed with Professor Petrik.
“That pollution that is under the sand, on the beach, the high water table, that takes a long time for that pollution to diffuse from there, so I don’t know how they (City) can categorically state that the pollution is gone. This was a major spill and it’s a large source of contamination so I’m concerned that this was cleared in five days,” Dr Barnes said.
When it comes to the mechanical functioning of the marine outfall plants (MOPs), Paul Moxley, a retired civil and coastal engineer who worked on the design and construction of pipelines along the Atlantic coast in the 1980s, said while he is not familiar with the MOP’s maintenance levels, wear and tear is to be expected.
“The better the maintenance the less wear and tear affects the production of a plant. On the other hand unexpected breakdowns do occur. The remedial work was however done expeditiously and whether the cost of the remedial work could have been avoided by better maintenance is debatable but not due to the age of the plant generally in my opinion,” Mr Moxley said.
“The design capacity of the Camps Bay pipeline would have been done in the late 1960’s. It may be that not only the oceanographic studies done at that time were not as sophisticated as they are now but moreover the quantity of more recent chemicals and pharmaceuticals would not have been taken into account at that time,” he said.
Mr Moxley says that Camps Bay residents should be mindful of what enters the sewerage, and that local businesses should promote ecologically friendly products as the City alone cannot be held responsible for solutions.
