Cape Town - The Milnerton Central Ratepayers’ Association and the Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (Outa) have expressed dismay over the City’s slow compliance with the Milnerton Lagoon pollution issue.
This after a Green Scorpions’ updated compliance audit of the City’s clean-up of the Milnerton water system found that it complied with only five of the 16 conditions imposed, with partial compliance on 10 conditions and non-compliance on one.
The non-compliance relates to the additional sampling point at the final effluent discharge point (at the point of entry into the Diep River).
The report resulted from a directive issued by the provincial Department of Environmental Affairs and Development Planning in September 2020 to the City, following the ongoing pollution of the Milnerton water system.
However, the City appealed, resulting in a modified directive issued in January.
The five conditions the City managed to comply with include the clean-up of the sludge within the Diep River, activation of standby generators in the event of a power outage, submission of an estuary management plan for the Milnerton Lagoon, and engagements with affected groups.
The association's head of environment, Caroline Marx, said they were disappointed that the City seemed unable to comply with the timeline in the directive.
She said what was more concerning was its request to extend deadlines for the completion of certain projects like the Potsdam Waste Water Treatment Works upgrade for a further three years.
Marx said environmental, health and economic impacts caused by further delays would be severe and that the situation needed to be treated as an emergency.
She said the City could not continue to use procurement problems as an open-ended “get out of jail free card”.
Andrea van Heerden, the senior legal project manager of Outa, said they hoped that the City would find ways to meet the proposed timeline as failure to do so could result in severe penalties.
“Van Heerden said they did not believe that the City was taking appropriate steps to address “other” sources of the pollution.
The department’s spokesperson, Rudolf van Jaarsveldt, said while the department was not satisfied with the current situation, it believed that the City was making substantial effort and progress in addressing the clean-up of the Milnerton water system while facing several challenges.
Van Jaarsveldt said the department conducted monthly compliance inspections based on monthly reports provided by the City, as well as verifying compliance with the modified directive.
He said the final audit report would only be conducted after the last time frame within the modified directive had lapsed.
Mayco Member for Water and Waste Zahid Badroodien said work was continuing to progressively achieve full compliance with departments requirements, with ongoing oversight through monthly public reports to local subcouncils.
"Ongoing efforts are under way to investigate pollution sources in the catchment, improve waste management, and combat illegal dumping in communities.
“Progress is further being made in terms of other ‘partially compliant’ areas. These include compiling a full audit on condition of pump stations and the imminent installation of litter nets at the mouths of stormwater outlets into the Lower Diep River," he said.
Badroodien said the timelines of infrastructure upgrades were still being reviewed and were not final.
He added that the overall project completion dates may differ to timelines for aspects of projects directly aimed at reducing pollution and that the City was committed to completing infrastructure upgrades within the shortest possible timeframes.
On the issue deemed as non-compliance, Badroodien said the national department of Water and Sanitation had reviewed sampling at Potsdam and was in agreement with the current means of sampling final effluent.
He said discussions were ongoing to reach understanding on this.