Action over sewage pollution

2009-06-02 18:01

Johannesburg - The Emfuleni municipality was interdicted from spilling raw sewage into the Vaal River by the High Court in Johannesburg on Tuesday.

The ruling came after SAVE, a non-governmental organisation aimed at protecting the Vaal River and its environs, took the municipality to court to stop it polluting the river, said SAVE chairperson Lotter Wepener in a statement.

"During the past few weeks, it came to SAVE's attention that the Emfuleni municipality was, once gain, pumping raw sewage into the Vaal River barrage reservoir.

"This was being done despite four previous court orders prohibiting Emfuleni from continuing with its criminal conduct by unlawfully polluting the Vaal River."

According to SAVE, Judge John Horn ordered the municipality to stop deliberately dumping sewage into the Vaal River.

He also ordered Emfuleni to ensure all effluent let into the river complied with standards laid down by the water affairs department.

Wepener said this meant the ecoli bacteria count may not exceed 1000 parts per millilitre of water.

"Ecoli is the indicator of the seriousness of the sewage pollution of the water."

Burst pipe

SAVE decided to go the High Court again after one of its committee members did a random inspection at the Emfuleni Leeukuil waste water works at night.

"It became apparent that raw sewage was being pumped into the Vaal River at night.

"Sewage in water is also highly dangerous to human health - a fact well known to Emfuleni as a result of it being spelt out in the past four court applications.

<p>”The statements were not challenged by Emfuleni and is now common knowledge to South Africans who followed the Zimbabwean disaster," he said, referring to the recent cholera outbreak in that country.

SAVE would continue to test the water to ensure the municipality adhered to set standards.

Municipal spokesperson Paseka Rakosa said the spillage was not deliberate but happened due to a burst pipe.

"To our understanding it was a burst pipe and what leaked into the river was not raw sewage but treated.

"We are following up the matter to find out what had caused the pipe to burst and to ensure that a similar incident doesn't occur again," said Rakosa.

- SAPA