Chris Hani District Municipality’s senior manager for water services provision, Bulani Lucando, has painted a grim picture of how the district’s tottering wastewater treatment works are polluting rivers and damaging ecosystems across the district. 

Lucando, in his presentation to the Integrated Development Plan Representative Forum last week, said the last upgrade at the Komani Wastewater Treatment Works was in 1992.

“We are experiencing strain in terms of operations of the system as it is under pressure,” he said.

The Whittlesea Wastewater Treatment Works had been commissioned in 1982 and they too were facing problems.

According to Lucando, the wastewater treatment works causing pollution are:

• Komani, where a biofilter is choked with sludge. The pollution affects the Komani River and commercial farmers;
• Lady Frere – three pump stations are failing and sewage is not getting to the oxidation ponds and the treatment works. This affects the Cacadu River, rural agriculture and residents;
• Sterkstroom – the wastewater treatment works and a pump station have a long record of failures which are affecting the river ecosystem and local farmers;
• Whittlesea – the biofilter is overloaded and the digester blocked, which is polluting the Klipplaat River, affecting commercial and rural agriculture;
• Indwe – two pump stations are failing and sewage is not getting to the treatment works upstream of the Dooring River Dam;
• Engcobo – oxidation ponds are overloaded and neglected, causing an offensive odour and polluting the Cefane River;
• Elliot – the treatment works are dysfunctional, which affects residents, the environment and the Slang River;
• Tarkastad – the treatment works are overloaded, resulting in pollution of the Tarka River, a major tributary of the Great Fish River;
• Middleburg – the pump station in town discharges raw sewage owing to overcapacitation and dilapidated infrastructure; and
• Cradock – the treatment works and five pump stations have failed, with the resultant pollution affecting the Great Fish River, agriculture and towns.

Read more in Daily Maverick: 

“Eastern Cape municipalities pump raw sewage into waterways”

“Falling to pieces: The disastrous state of towns in the Enoch Mgijima Local Municipality”

In October 2021, the Grahamstown High Court granted Agri Eastern Cape (Agri EC) a supervisory order instructing the municipality to take urgent steps to deal with raw and untreated sewage flowing directly into the Fish River in Cradock.

This came after Agri EC reported that this sewage pollution would inevitably affect agricultural activities downstream.

‘Unsafe for animals and people’

Inxuba Yethemba Municipality DA councillor Monde Desha said the ruling ANC wants to change the name of Cradock to Nxuba instead of focusing on the sewage problem that has persisted for years.

“They have neglected the most important thing which is polluting our rivers. There are lots of sewage spills in the town,” he added.

Komani resident Buzani Gcinisa said there is sewage overflowing all around Komani: “The Mlungisi cemetery is sinking in sewage while there are areas where sewage overflows every week. The Komani River is polluted and it is not safe.”

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Gcinisa said that as children they used to swim in the Komani River but that is not possible because of the level of sewage going into the river.

“The river is polluted and unsafe for animals and people,” he said.

In September 2021, Daily Maverick reported that a third of the municipality’s sewage plants are partially operational and that the district is responsible for years of waste running into the Eastern Cape’s rivers.

Tarkastad resident Carol Boast said the sewage spills in the town make it difficult for residents to sit outside: “People living near the pump station have to walk through the faeces to get home. The situation is bad and people are at risk of getting sick.”

Waterdown Dam in the Komani area. (Photo: Supplied)

Theft and vandalism

Municipality spokesperson Bulelwa Ganyaza said the district has 19 wastewater treatment works, seven of which are not fully functional, and 34 sewer pump stations, with 16 that are not fully operational for various reasons.

Ganyaza listed the challenges facing the treatment works:

• Overcapacity owing to high demand;
• Ageing infrastructure that cannot meet increasing demand due to population growth;
• Growth and source capacity (given that the treatment works were built to accommodate a certain population size);
• Informal settlements in the urban area need to be formalised, while infrastructure development needs to be planned for new settlements;
• An increase in theft and vandalism; and
• Electricity challenges, such as rolling blackouts, resulting in high diesel and operational costs.

Ganyaza said theft and vandalism has a direct and significant impact on the performance of the infrastructure. 

“The district is experiencing high incidents of damage to water and sanitation infrastructure. These acts of vandalism, which are widespread across the district, take several forms and they include water theft (illegal connections), vandalism and theft of metal manhole covers,” she said.

Water and sanitation treatment works had been the hardest hit as perpetrators continued to target these, causing massive damage to the system.  

“Common occurrences include stripping of metal manhole covers, strainers, screens and cables from electrical panels in various pump stations. The escalation of these criminal acts has adverse effects on revenue collection levels and they significantly increase the municipality’s operation and maintenance costs.” DM/OBP