ICYMI: Residents kick up a stink about Jukskei River smell

Residents living in the lower end of Lonehill, towards the Jukskei River, have complained about a foul smell coming from the river.

Shelley Miller of the Lonehill Residents Association (LRA) said, “Towards the end of 2019, residents complained of increasing ‘agricultural effluent smell’ in the evenings, usually around 7pm.”

LRA general manager Keith Rampton attended a meeting earlier this year with Johannesburg Environmental Health, who indicated that there was a serious concern of human sewage entering the watercourse in the Midrand Commercial Area adjacent to the Tembisa informal settlement.According to Miller, Johannesburg Environmental Health also stated that they were aware of complaints that the piggery, located at Leeuwkop prison, might be a contributor to this issue. However, to date, no fouling has been detected.

The LRA claimed when they visited the prison, prison personnel would not allow them to visit the piggery.Miller said a sample of river water was taken in June after residents complained about heavy foam accumulating at the weir. “Feedback from the lab shows increased levels of E. coli, however, they cannot differentiate between human and pig faeces,” added Miller.

Ward 74 councillor David Foley said the smells and foaming at the river had been of great concern to residents. “The Jukskei River starts at the centre of Joburg and goes past a number of formal and informal settlements and the sewer systems along the way are constantly suffering from backlogs and the flow goes into the storm water systems to the river or directly into the Jukskei. The river is also fed from other smaller streams that add to the problem,” said Foley.

He believed that a possible offender might be the Leeuwkop piggery and raised concern about inconspicuous pipes that flow into the river from the area, with a foul smell. He added that Joburg Environmental Health confirmed that the piggery connected to a sewer system.

Foley said until the housing crisis in South Africa was solved and there were effective sewerage systems in place, the problem would persist. He concluded that there was no silver bullet to resolve the problem, but he would continue to work with various departments to look for alternative solutions.

The Fourways Review sent questions to the Department of Correctional Services who said they had not received any complaints from their members regarding any foul smells coming from the river. The department added that the piggery was cleaned daily in accordance with the required procedure of the establishment using a detergent.

In response to questions concerning the suspicion of a smell emanating from the piggery, the department said, “It is common cause that if there is a project of this nature, such suspicions of smell and odours could simply be linked to such project.”

The Department of Correctional Services also confirmed that the Jukskei River passed through the prison, but they said the piggery was far from the river.

Despite numerous attempts, the Fourways Review was not able to get comment from Johannesburg Environmental Health, however, MMC for Environment and Infrastructure Services, councillor Mpho Moerane said that the most recent water quality sampling was done between January and March this year.”The water quality results indicate that the chemical water quality index for the Jukskei catchment was within acceptable limits, while the bacteriological water quality index remained unacceptable,” said Moerane.

He said that E. coli remains a parameter of concern throughout the catchment, with phosphate, nitrate, ammonia and COD (chemical oxygen demand) also not meeting in-stream water quality guidelines. The closest monitoring point to the Leeuwkop Prison showed an E. coli count of 27 000, which, while still over the acceptable limit, was an improvement from the previous quarter where the count was 75 000.Moerane said the water’s foamy appearance could be the result of a number of factors.

Wastewater leakages will often create foam where the water is agitated over many rocky areas. Where recurrent or excessive foam is suspected to be from a single source, site investigations are undertaken to determine whether the failure is the result of an illegal discharge or sewer failure, and appropriate remedial action is taken such as unblocking, repair of breaks and treatment of bio-organisms.

Concerning the allegation that the pollution emanates from the piggery, Moerane said the system for contaminated run-off and wastewater discharge at the prison has recently been upgraded. Wastewater is now treated through an on-site package plant, which then discharges directly into Joburg Water’s sewer network.

“The City is not aware of any failures from the piggery that might account for this pollution and site inspections conducted by officials in the months before lockdown show no evidence of any pollution in the event of any contaminated storm water run-off,” said Moerane.