Residents and farming communities in the north of Pretoria say the continuing pollution of the Apies River is unacceptable and have called for urgent action.
Last week, residents in Hammanskraal and the surrounding areas voiced their anger about sewage running into the river at a meeting at the Rooiwal wastewater treatment works.
A memorandum was handed over to the treatment facility with residents demanding an urgent solution to stop the water pollution.
Gert van der Waal of AfriForum’s Apies River branch, said the residents had long reported the spill to the treatment facility.
“To make matters worse, just the past weekend another massive sewage spill was reported after an apparent fault with one of the pipe valves,” Van der Waal said.
“Tshwane metro received a copy of the memorandum for the mayor’s urgent attention.”
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Residents said not only was the pollution of the river affecting their health, but the environment and agriculture as well.
The memorandum read:
“The community of zone-2 (Tshwane) has suffered for many years as a result of the regular sewage spills at Rooiwal WWTW. The consequences of Rooiwal has incapacitated residents and workers in the area trying to make a living for themselves.”
The following demands were made:
– Fix Rooiwal facility to ensure that water released from Rooiwal WWTW complies with the national water act.
– Repay farmers’ water bills (paid by farmers to maintain their water rights) for the unusable quality of water.
– Facilitate/renegotiate water rights lost due to non-payment/abandoning of water rights, due to unusable water (quality).
– Moratorium on all new developments until the Rooiwal problem has been fully resolved.
– Remunerate residents for losses because of Rooiwal pollution
– Supply clean raw water to Themba WTW.
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– Implement adequate management/emergency procedures to prevent unnecessary mechanical and electrical failures and sewage spillage during such failures.
– Implement adequate security to prevent theft and vandalism to plant and cables.
– Employ competent staff to manage Rooiwal in a responsible and successful manner.
– Stop the practice of dumping sewage sludge into the adjacent fields and into the Apies.
– Ensure that only digested sludge reaches the solar drying pads.
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