Still no solution regarding stream pollution
A decision was taken to undertake a follow up inspection to cover the other factories which were not considered in the previous inspection.
Two months have passed since the last visit by authorities to identify the company responsible for discharging industrial effluent into the Modderfontein stream.
Despite the inspection by a task team, consisting of the Department of Environmental Management, Environmental Health, the Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality and officials from Johannesburg Water’s Laboratory Services, the problem continues.
The last inspection took place on August 18.
The NEWS reported on September 2 that Mr Nthatisi Modingoane, the spokesperson for the CoJ, said based on the initial samples that were taken on June 17, the fingerprinting results showed there was no conclusive evidence to link the pollution to a paint company.
He said a decision was taken to undertake a follow up inspection to cover the other factories which were not considered in the previous inspection.
“There were about six samples taken, two from the river and four from two paint companies’ factory premises. There was no evidence of effluent being discharged into the sewer system from these two factories. There was only one factory which Joburg Water confirmed is discharging into the sewer channel. However, fingerprinting results have since showed there was no conclusive evidence to link the pollution to the company,” said Mr Modingoane.
He said from the observation it is clear that the discharge enters the storm-water channels somewhere but in a place that is not visible from the surface.
“For now we are awaiting the analysis results for the samples which were taken on August 18.
“We will also request storm-water layouts for the area and we will request that the Johannesburg Roads Agency (JRA) joins us on the next site inspection so that they can open the channels for inspection,” said Mr Modingoane.
Dr Irwin Juckes, the founder of Edenvale RiverWatch, said two months have passed since the samples were taken for testing and nothing seems to have happened to address the problem as the paint discharge is still a daily occurrence.
“I don’t think anything has happened. Certainly the situation is as bad as ever. In fact it’s worse, there was a red pigment flowing into the Modderfontein Golf Course this morning,”said Dr Juckes.
Despite numerous attempts, no comment was received from the CoJ spokesperson to the NEWS’ most recent inquiry.
