Pollution in Sand river adversely affects area

POLOKWANE – “The damaged pipe at the Seshego Waste Water Treatment Plant that spilled sewage into Blood river was fixed and we continue to closely monitor water quality in Blood- and Sand river through conducting regular tests. There are no known sewage spillages that happened in the last month.”

This was municipal spokesperson, Malesela Maubane’s comment last week following complaints of an unbearable stench by Doornbult residents who live near Sand river.

But residents, including the Zietsman family, do not agree.

“The woman from water affairs just said the cause of the pollution was that a pipe had burst and it had already been fixed. But the burst pipe story is an old story. We hear it all the time if we complain. We don’t think the polluted water and the terrible stench is caused by a burst pipe. This pollution comes in a mass and then goes away. If it was a pipe, it would have been a continuous flow of polluted water,” Johan Zietsman told Review.

He thinks it might be sewage emanating from overflowing waste water ponds, which are too full of sludge to handle the effluent flowing into it, and then spills over into the river.

“We bought the land in 1976. My children used to play in the river. We used to catch barbell, carp and tilapia in the river. Now there are no fish, no birdlife, no insects or other signs of life in the river,” Zietsman said, adding that they paid water rights annually, but could not utilise the water.

The Zietsmans live about 300 metres below the confluence of the Blood and Sand rivers. The Blood river flows next to the Seshego waste water treatment plant, where the damaged pipe occurred in October, and Review also at the time witnessed raw sewage being illegally deposited into the river.

Zietsman further said a consultant at the municipality as well as a department of water affairs representative had visited them, and taken water samples. He said the first water samples were taken on July 27, however, they had still not heard what the outcome of the tests on the water samples had been.

Review visit the area last Tuesday and found that there was indeed a bad smell that would not be easy to endure day in and day out. According to one resident, the bad smell occurs “every now and then for a few days over the last two or three years.

According to Maubane, the municipality will investigate further.

“We will also be investigating if there is any overflowing water pond which is resulting in the mentioned stink. Any water and sanitation issues can be referred to (015) 290 2376 whilst specific water quality issues can be referred to (015) 290 2537.”