The smell fanning from Boskrans Sewage Plant that’s been making us gag and dry-heave collectively, will not disappear anytime soon.
The slight increase in the quality of water being released into the Klein Olifants River is, however, one debatably positive aspect to the ongoing upgrades at Boskrans, if “acceptable standards” are what the number one municipality in Mpumalanga settles for.
The fetid news was shared with the council’s Infrastructure Development Committee during a site visit to the sewage plant.
The unpleasant disclosure spurred committee chairman Cllr Bhekumuzi Marumo, who has an engineering background, to consider engaging with scientists and inventors from Middelburg “to think out of the box and come up with ideas to assist the municipality with tackling the problem innovatively”.
In answer to a question from the DA’s Jos Pretorius on how long it would take for the municipality to address the smell, Executive Director for Infrastructure Ms Lindiwe Silolo courteously answered “R340 million,” placing a damper on any quick-fix solutions.
The R40 million, on top of the R300 million needed for a second Biological Nutrient Remover (BNR), is an estimated amount needed for electrical generators to keep the plant running during load shedding and power outages.
Present BNR capacity stands at 20Ml, but with the commissioning of the new pump station this week, another 25Ml BNR unit is needed to enhance capacity.
The existing BNR also came with an upgraded sludge pond, which releases a much better quality outflow by mixing with and diluting aged sludge pond outflow to the Klein Olifants River.
After solids have been separated and hard-pressed, it gets ploughed into the ground around the plant. The problem remains in the open air aeration ponds, where chemicals can possibly help alleviate the stench but are currently unsuitable due to the killing effect it may have on biological breakdown organisms.
Also, inflation is not our friend when we’re R350 million in the red.
On Tuesday, the municipality did a final test run on the new pump station upgraded from 30Ml to 45Ml capacity.
Chairman Marumo responded that the municipality will have to engage with the Nkangala District Municipality, whom he believes have been “overlooking” Middelburg because of the municipality’s sterling financial and service delivery status.
For now, continued load shedding will have an ongoing effect on the smell, mostly affecting Mhluzi, Kanonkop and Dennesig.
More provisions will have to be made in future budgets to at least address the plant’s backup power generation capacity, “So that we can keep the chain strong, and not have a domino effect worsening the smell,” Ms Silolo said.
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