WHAT A WASTE
Cape Town spends millions on a broken water treatment plant — critics say it’s money down the drain
Another scandal has rocked the City of Cape Town’s Urban Waste Management directorate. Daily Maverick has discovered that the municipality plans to spend more than R11m on a plant at Vissershok that has a history of problems.
The City of Cape Town has budgeted almost R12-million this year for a leachate treatment plant that is not operational. A total of R6.3-million of the R11.95-million allocated has already been spent.
The plant has been out of commission for six years.
Since 2017, the municipality has been spending R3-million a year on repairs to and maintenance of the plant – with no benefit to the city.
Details of the spend, which critics describe as wasteful, are contained in a report seen by Daily Maverick that was tabled before the urban waste management portfolio committee on Monday.
However, the city of Cape Town maintains that the budget was not considered wasteful expenditure and expressed optimism for a turnaround.
The Vissershok Leachate Treatment Plant was established in 2003 to treat leachate at the landfill site. The wastewater plant utilises a range of biological and mechanical processes and can treat 405 m3/day. The plant has consistently run under capacity with an average treated volume of 70/100 m3/day.
Both the biological and mechanical sections of the plant are currently non-operational due to “challenges” experienced since commissioning, according to the report.
In the interim, leachate is being routed to the Borcherds Quarry Wastewater Treatment Works.
Landfill leachate refers to the liquid that is generated when water comes into contact with waste materials deposited in a landfill. Rainwater or other sources of moisture percolate through the waste, dissolving and carrying various substances with it, forming landfill leachate.
As the liquid passes through the landfill, it picks up a mixture of organic and inorganic compounds, suspended solids, and microbial activity byproducts. The composition and characteristics of landfill leachate can vary depending on factors such as the type of waste, age of the landfill, climate and landfill management practices.
Upgrades and expansions were conducted in 2010 and completed in 2014, with the plant back in operation to treat raw leachate through a series of biological and mechanical processes to produce a potable water product that could be discharged to the natural watercourse or used for dust suppression on-site.
The plant was designed to operate around the clock.
However, the facility has never been in a state to fulfil its intended purpose despite the large capital investment of around R35-million, according to committee member and DA councillor Brendan van der Merwe.
Read more in Daily Maverick: Cape Town mayor moves to suspend director following collapse of waste management
In 2022, in a report by the internal audit unit seen by Daily Maverick, it was discovered that the leachate plant at the landfill site was out of commission. The municipality was seemingly unaware of this.
A preliminary investigation revealed that the plant had been decommissioned for some time, to the extent that parts were beginning to rust.
Delta investigation
The municipality appointed Delta, a service provider, to assess the plant and come up with a plan to upgrade and operationalise the facility.
The investigation was completed in August 2023. It was found that the plant ran under capacity with an average treated volume of 70/100 m3/day. It also revealed that the biological and mechanical sections of the plant were non-operational.
The municipality was informed that due to the high concentration of recalcitrant chemical oxygen demand in the raw leachate, further upgrades – or further investment in biological treatment – were unlikely to yield an equivalent benefit in performance.
“Additionally, the deteriorating performance of the biological plant during the period of operation analysed was likely to get worse as a result of increased recalcitrant content as the landfill ages,” read the findings.
Operational challenges are also being caused by flawed design decisions.
It was suggested that viable ways in which the plant could be operated need to be investigated. Specialised service providers needed to be considered and a site visit needed to be arranged.
The report suggests that more than R6.5-million would be needed to repair the plant.
The facility falls under the urban waste management directorate, which faces issues of collapsed waste collection. In this regard, Cape Town mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis recently suspended the executive director of urban waste management, Luzuko Mdunyelwa.
Read more in Daily Maverick: Cape Town waste management director suspended as communities drown in trash
Opposition responds
There have been calls for a forensic investigation to be initiated, which Mdunyelwa was looking into before he was suspended.
The ANC’s Delmaine Cottee, subcouncil 10 chairperson, said that for the past two years, they have been raising the issue of poor service delivery, poor management and maladministration of public funds at Vissershok.
“Two years ago we visited the site and identified several irregularities and poor supervision of the site. On 29 January, the same situation, if not worse, was explained to the portfolio committee members on our site visit.”
He said junior officials tried to cover up for senior officials, who he claimed were missing in action.
The ANC has proposed that a forensic investigation into the plant be opened and that senior officials be held accountable for mismanagement and wasteful expenditure.
“City taxpayers pay for the running of the facility but there has been no proper outcome at the facility for the past two years and more.”
Dwayne Jacobs from the National Coloured Congress, also serving on the committee, said that since the start of the new administration in 2021, questions had been asked about the plant’s operation.
“They gave us excuses and claimed that they were waiting for parts to conduct refurbishments, but the only refurbishment they did was on the tanks. If the DA administration knew that they did not have the assurance that this plant would work, why did they spend taxpayers’ money on an uncertain project? Also, why are the officials not held accountable as they are with other departments?”
DA councillor Brendan van der Merwe has submitted a motion that the portfolio committee should resolve to request the facility be operated by a competent external service provider.
“This alternative is being proposed to avoid incurring additional costs associated with appointing additional staff and incurring overtime, especially in the absence of a clear plan for the way forward, or a guaranteed outcome of a fully functional facility.”
He said that after the appointment of the external service provider, it was recommended that a turnaround plan be formulated.
“This plan should focus on ensuring the efficient operation of the leachate treatment plant and its alignment with the intended purpose.
It worked – once
Responding to queries, the City of Cape Town said the full treatment system had at one point operated successfully and produced effluent of the targeted quality; however, this had not always been easy to maintain.
“One of the main reasons is the variation in the type and characteristics of waste being disposed of at the landfill, which resulted in unexpected changes in leachate quality. This has therefore resulted in frequent breakdowns.”
The municipality said the availability of imported spares and chemicals had also been a challenge at times, and said low rainfall resulted in more concentrated leachate than expected.
They also confirmed that for this year, a budget of R11,957,683 had been allocated to the leachate plant.
“The City would not characterise this as wasteful expenditure. In the design of the plant, the City opted to take a highly innovative approach that, if successful, would achieve leachate quality above and beyond what is required by legislation.
“Urban waste management is still optimistic that with a few upgrades and operational changes, the system can operate successfully and serve the City for many years to come. Lessons learned here will stand the City in good stead in similar projects going forward.”
The municipality said it will use the recommendations in the Delta investigation to ensure successful operation at the required capacity. DM
Velani Ludidi does a good job here of smearing the DA – it’s an election year after all- but some of this is so weak. Imagine spending money on trying to fix something is the rhetorical question that covers most of this hit piece. I mean, really. ‘Issues of waste management collapse’ under the Waste Management Directorate add the idea that the place is falling apart, even while the Mayor has acted, people are suspended and enquiries under way. The report provided by the experts here, the comments by the City, all read rationally, and surely one would, unlike in Durban, actually want this plant to do its job fully. This is just such weak reporting, treating the ‘facts’ as footnotes and the writer’s biases and opinions as the story.
Yeah…I mean no political party is immune from corruption or maladministration, but the key is do they act when they become aware of transgressions.
This one feels a lot like a storm in a tea cup.
Totally agree. Should the city let the waste stream down the roads? Would that be more to Velani’s liking?
DM is a country run magazine. You will find real dirt in municipalities run by ANC in other parts of the country. This focus on Cape Town by DM shows what you are trying to do
@ Denise Smith, I agree with you…anything that’s not going well in the city of CT must be swept under the carpet and DM should look some where else for dirt. That’s how it should work…
Oh please, spare us the drivel!! Cape Town city council has a R70 billion annual budget and this is all you could find in terms of ‘wasteful expenditure’, if you can call it that?
100%
_”Another “scandal” has rocked the City of Cape Town’s Urban Waste Management directorate”_
When shall we talk about the wasteful expenditure here and in KZN/EC? And for that matter, all the other provinces that are not controlled by the DA.
For the record, I live in Joburg.
Ironic that in a municipality in which the ANC is in opposition they propose actions they do not carry out when they in control.
Velani – contrary to the policies followed by the ANC in everything they do, Cape Town is actually working on fixing the problem. If you live there and don’t like it try the water in the Klip River and the Vaal.
Such a desperate bit of reporting!
Like a starving hen, scratching the dirt to find something negative to crow about. SACP/anc she is gone from WCape…accept that and be happy!
The report is a perfectly valid criticism of poor performance and hopefully helps as a wake up call. It doesn’t imply that things aren’t worse elsewhere which isn’t at all the point!!
It is a Budget, not a spend, but the critics here, Vulani and ANC primarily don’t have suggestions ….. and their Government, our National Government granted, waste many BILLIONS
Leachate is incredibly hard and difficult to treat — one asks, why bother? Most is very poisonous, although some makes very good fertiliser after being diluted alot. Alternatives are to drain it and stock it, until an efficient method of treatment is found.
And of course, not to shove rubbish into the ground.
How would a wetland deal with this?
A big artificial wetland built for purpose? With step walls to catch sediment and junk. Screen nets to catch plastic.
Would it be toxic enough to kill the plants?
Would the water exiting the wetlands (into the groundwater or surface) be clean enough?
One bitter complaint I have about COCT is they always do the big engineering solution to every problem. Not sure if there is corruption in that mix? Sometimes simple is better, let nature do it’s magic.
A wetland dealing with 400m3+/day, with a substantial retention time and the diversity to treat the much varied leachate will be rather large.
I am assuming land is at a premium there, Some of the pollutants will tend to bonded to soil and organic matter, but will be released again if you need to rebuild or upgrade or modify it. And you will have to do that. Just like the plant, it will not be able to respond rapidly enough to new pollutants.
Although it will probably do well with the oxyyen demand, if it is organic in nature.
Lastly getting a constructed wetland to that does anything but be a water feature past the DWS, and then doing maintenance on it, is an administrative nightmare.
“Another scandal…” What on earth is the Daily Maverick smoking these days? How is the City trying to fix a treatment plant to improve its performance even remotely a scandal? This attempt to manufacture some kind of scandal equivalence with the ANC is far more transparent than you perhaps think.
Would you rather Cape Town did nothing like all the anc municipalities??
Rather analise what they are going to do first and get the input from a Civil Consulting engineer.
“The Vissershok Leachate Treatment Plant was established in 2003”. The DA took over the running of the CoCt in 2006 right? So the “Operational challenges are also being caused by flawed design decisions” are likely traced back to the original design and implementation. No prize for guessing who that was.
quite correct. But why let facts get in the way of propaganda
Thank you Mr Ludidi that you have pointed this wastage out. It cannot be tolerated that a government entity waste money on maintaining something or trying to make it work!!!!
What will the luxury motor agencies do when this continues?? Close their doors if municipalities and other start wasting money on maintenance and have no money left for luxury cars for officials!!!!
This must me stopped!!!!
This is not serious?
What is better? To repair or replace? What is more economical?
Don’t understand the anti DA/WP rhetoric from DM sometimes. All I see is an effort to make something work which adds value to the community.
It seems at least 60% of their contributors have chips on their shoulders and/or can’t be bothered travelling beyond the Cape Town Metro borders
Poor management should be held accountable , what do they do with their audit results ?
Lack of leadership , no accountability , bail out like Escom !
“The ANC has proposed that a forensic investigation into the plant be opened and that senior officials be held accountable for mismanagement and wasteful expenditure.”
Maybe the ANC should focus on the billions of wasteful expenditure on their watch; lets see Prasa, Escom, Denel, SAA, PostOffice, SABC and the list goes on lets open a forensic investigation and hold the ANC to account for the mismanagement and wasteful expenditure.
Or maybe it will find out that it was actually the anc, who commissioned the plant originally, was the culprit of mismanagement, wasteful expenditure and tender fraud