The most affected area is the Crocodile River, where it enters the Hartbeespoort Dam. This area is home to a large number of birdlife.
Wikicommons
“ We must depoliticise sewage management in particular, and water resource management in general.”
Depoliticise water
“ This will be counterproductive in my view, because it is unfair to expect any new mayor to resolve a complex infrastructure problem that has been developing over 20 years. We must depoliticise sewage management in particular, and water resource management in general.
“ In conclusion, we need to take sewage management seriously. This means that each municipality must prioritise the staffing, procurement and management of upgrades. It also suggests that a request for proposals should be considered to call for new technologies to be trialled. I am thinking here of HCA and engineered wetland technology, both of which is coming of age, and neither of which are in mainstream use because of barriers to entry by gatekeepers,” he says.
Mike Muller, adjunct professor at Wits University’ s School of Governance and a fellow of the Water Institute of South Africa, says the spill highlights two problems:“ There is a trend in some areas to use sewers for solid waste disposal and rubbish is frequently dumped down manholes. This causes blockages that, in turn, lead to overflows, as in this case.
“ Second, in many cities and towns, infrastructure capacity has not been increased to meet new demand. This leads to overloading and spills. But in this case, it appears that Joburg Water had little spare capacity to deal with the blockages that arose, as it was actually
working on upgrades at the time.” Muller points out that because Hartbeespoort Dam lies downstream of a number of municipalities, it will always suffer the consequences of poor sanitation management and function as an indicator of what is happening upstream.
Denying responsibility
Following the sewage spill, the National Department of Public Works( NDPW) denied responsibility and expressed concern about the spillage, especially“ as the property in question is under the custodianship of the department”.
“ Joburg Water, an entity of the City of Joburg, has a municipal out-fall sewer line that crosses the [ Leeuwkop ] prison premises, running parallel to the Jukskei River. It is our understanding that one of the out-fall sewer lines has been decommissioned to resolve blockages in the line. This has resulted in spillages into the Jukskei River,” says NDPW spokesperson, Thami Mchunu.
Mchunu explains that two out-fall sewer lines from Bruma and Midrand areas adjoin in a sewer line passing through the Leeuwkop Prison on its way to the Northern Works Wastewater Treatment Plant.
“ The departmental technical experts have been on site and have made a number of recommendations to resolve the matter together with Joburg Water,” says Mchunu.
The NDPW says it has written
12 Water Sewage & Effluent January / February 2017