Community raises alarm, saying waste flows into Moreleta Spruit
According to city officials, the minor leak that caused the problem had been repaired, but residents insist ongoing dumping and wastewater runoff are poisoning streams and wetlands.
Residents and community organisations are calling on the city to act urgently as polluted water and waste from the Plastic View informal settlement apparently continues to flow directly into the Moreleta Spruit.
Deirdré van Helsdingen, founder of the Pretoria East Community Caring Forum, said informal settlement residents often dump dirty water and empty their sanitation buckets in an open field that has also become an illegal dumping site.
“The water is thrown onto the ground, mixes with waste, and eventually flows into the Moreleta Spruit. This is a serious environmental hazard,” she said.
Van Helsdingen explained that they use drones to capture daily footage of the dumping.
“It’s grey water being discarded by the occupiers. Urgent intervention is needed. The dumping has even attracted pigs to the area, which now also need to be removed,” she added.
She said people were seen dumping illegally in the field on both September 19 and the morning of September 23, adding, “We reported it to Tshwane, and they promised to work with us”.
Municipal teams carried out an inspection after the initial report, and Ward 91 councillor Henning Viljoen confirmed that he is aware of the issue.
He said, “This is an environmental disaster. Everything from Plastic View, mainly sewage seepage and wastewater, is ending up in the Moreleta Spruit. It’s unacceptable”.
Early in March, a clean water activist, Rion Janse van Rensburg of the Christian rights group, Time2riseSA and #HOPE4SA became concerned that the informal settlement was being polluted by sewage and exposed to considerable health hazards.
Furthermore, unchannelled streams of water often lead to floods in the informal settlement.
“The paths between the informal structures become impassable,” he said.
His research revealed that these polluted streams of water from Plastic View end up in the two tributaries that flow into the Moreleta Spruit.
Van Rensburg said residents often have no alternative but to burn rubbish, and some of this burnt plastic and rubbish also seeps into the groundwater.
“One saving grace is that there are wetlands between the tributaries and the Moreleta Spruit. We have to protect these wetlands, which act as sponges.”
There is a further problem, where sewage runoff flows into pools of water between the shacks.
“The stench from these stagnant pools is unbearable and poses a health hazard for residents,” he explained.
The metro, however, denied claims of wastewater flowing into the Moreleta Spruit from the settlement.
City spokesperson Lindela Mashigo confirmed that the city is aware of the situation, stating, however, that the issue at Plastic View is a water leak. This was apparently attended to by the city on September 12.
Mashigo said there is no contamination from the Plastic View settlement flowing into the Moreleta Spruit.
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