Barberton sewerage plant woes to get urgent attention

With another mass fish kill in less than two years, the local rivers, wildlife and community are bearing the brunt of the effects due to the dysfunctional Barberton Waste Water Treatment Works.

In October 2020, a Barberton farmer found hundreds of thousands of dead fish in one of his dams.  The mass kill was ultimately said to have been caused by leakages into nearby river and dam systems from the Barberton plant.

The Kaap River Valley Major Irrigation Board’s senior water control officer, Maré le Roux, said he had been trying to get government officials to address these issues since 2016.

Le Roux said the private dam had extremely high levels of salt, which comes from the sewage polluting the dam, and that is what caused the death of the fish in the most recent mass death.

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He said the sewerage plant was still not fully operational and continues to pollute nearby dams and river systems, some of which run next to nearby informal settlements and villages.

He added that some of the communities from these settlements bathe in the river and drink from its water, and that whenever there is a fish kill, people rush to grab the dead fish by the bagful.

Inkomati-Usuthu Catchment Management Agency spokesperson Sylvia Machimana said the agency issued the City of Mbombela with an intention to file an urgent interdict dated February 18, 2020.

She said a follow-up was conducted on February 14, which confirmed the continuous non-compliances on-site.  She said the municipality responded, committing to address all mechanical and electrical issues within two to three months starting from February 24.

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A follow-up site inspection was done on April 6 to monitor progress of the commitments, and the findings of that inspection were as follows:

• The mechanical screen was not operational
• The influent flow meter was not operational
• The grit channels were full of sand
• Some mixers and aerators were not operational
• Only three of the four clarifiers were operational
• The effluent discharged had a dark-grey colour with suspended solids
• The facility is currently discharging partly treated waste into the environment.

Barberton doctor Veronique Lyon-Pretorius said she had recently noticed a marked increase in gastroenteritis and colitis cases. She said this could very well be attributed to the sewage polluting local rivers.

“The increase started about a month ago, when we saw a two-week spike in gastro cases, and again the past week or so. Gastro is usually self-limiting and lasts for up to 48 hours. The cases we have been seeing are for four to five days at a time. Thankfully, no one has required admission to hospital.”

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She said people eating the dead fish could also have severe health consequences.  “Often there are zoonotic infections carried by the fish, such as salmonella. These bacteria can cause serious disease in humans, from acute diarrhoeal disease to serious poisoning that necessitates admission and intravenous medication.”

City of Mbombela spokesperson Joseph Ngala said the dysfunctionality of the plant was due to the nature of the sewage coming into it, which contains mainly heavy metals from the mining operations and silt deposits from the reticulation systems mainly in the townships, where sewer manhole covers are vandalised.

Ngala said the situation is being assessed with the aim to refurbish all affected machinery and equipment needed to avert the situation and also to improve maintenance of equipment.

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“Tests are ongoing and will be conducted at various upstream points and downstream of the discharge point of the plant, to ascertain possible other contamination sources.”

He said, however, that there appears to be other factors contributing to the mass fish kill that are under investigation.

“The ongoing issues are very serious and the municipality is doing everything in its powers to improve the operability of the plant througha vigorous planned refurbishment of equipment.”