By Craig Kotze
A short-term controlled spike in sewage spillage and Vaal River pollution is expected in coming weeks as waste water specialist ERWAT this month begins a multi-pronged operation to reverse the “brown tide” – including unblocking sewer pipes from Emfuleni’s estimated 33 000 manholes.
Unblocking the 2600 km pipe network in parallel with other direct interventions and mapping operations would inevitably result in the displacement of long-accumulated sewage at multiple points and thus business and the public would need to be continually made aware of it.
The entire ERWAT operation will include specialist drones for accurate mapping of the affected area, sophisticated camera equipment for probing the pipeline infrastructure, GIS (Geographical Information Services) and ultimately a real-time project management centre to track events and progress as they happen.
“There’s going to be a spike in spillage at first in a controlled manner but then we will through ongoing operations be able to control and channel it even as we begin work on the entire sewage and waste water system to tackle underlying issues systematically and in parallel,” according to ERWAT MD Tumelo Gopane.
The sewage spillage crisis – which sees vast amounts of sewage pouring on a daily basis into the Vaal River from fractured and ageing pipe networks throughout Emfuleni townships, suburbs and business districts, was vastly worsened by three non-functional waste water plants and 44pump stations that needed upgrading.
In addition to invading township homes and streets elsewhere throughout Emfuleni, the “brown sewage tide”, has devastated what was once both a marine environmental and tourism jewel of the region – the Vaal River as both an economic hub and lifestyle centre.
The direct mission and purpose of the ERWAT intervention is thus to resuscitate waste water treatment infrastructure to an operational state and halt Vaal River pollution, according to the official ERWAT project strategy document.
The strategic consequences for the Gauteng Province as the hub of the South African economy as a whole is also highlighted in the ERWAT strategy.
Gopane gave the assurance ERWAT would implement with maximum possible transparency at all levels and with stakeholders, including business, civil society, media, affected communities and neighbouring municipalities.
ERWAT’s formal entry in the Vaal sewage pollution project was welcomed by the Golden Triangle Chamber of Commerce (GTCoC). GTCoC Water and Sanitation spokesperson Rosemary Cloete-Anderson said
The full extent of ERWAT’s multi-faceted and world-class hi-tech strategy to tackle the seemingly insoluble problem of worsening sewage pollution in the Vaal was revealed last week at a multi-department press conference hosted by ELM Executive Mayor Gift Moerane.
“We know we will be successful when myself and the Honourable Minister of Water and Sanitation Ms Lindiwe Sisulu can safely swim in the Vaal River,” Mayor Moerane quipped half-jokingly when asked about the ultimate objective of the project.
Mayor Moerane is directly overseeing the rescue operation in the Vaal itself with senior personnel from DWS and the Ministry of Water and Sanitation and Human Settlements in Tshwane.
This takes place against a backdrop of intensifying efforts by his Mayoral Office to include and mobilise organised business – which is also at an advanced stage of mobilisation of skills and resources – in mission-critical service delivery projects such as the ERWAT project in Emfuleni.
With recurring budgetary problems for the first-phase intervention – R141 million allocated by the Department of Water and Sanitation (DWS) until March 2020 – now seemingly resolved, ERWAT MD Tumelo Gopane outlined a world-class technical intervention to finally get to grips with the issue.
The R141 million ERWAT ring-fenced project budget will reside with the Gauteng Province Water and Sanitation Department and payments to ERWAT will only be done on basis of work done and appropriate invoicing, said special WS Ministry advisor Thami Ka Plaatjie.
Gopane assured the media and public that local skills and labour would be mobilised by ERWAT to resource the operation – envisaged to ultimately take three years – with only highly specialist skills brought in from outside Emfuleni region when absolutely necessary.
Gopane also addressed fears on infrastructure security issues of vandalism, theft and sabotage after the withdrawal of hundreds of SA National Defence Force personnel in the Vaal was completed at the end of January 2020, saying a security company with required specialist skills would then be in place.
According to Gopane, it would also be pointless to only focus on refurbishment of waste water plants without assessing and as a result ERWAT would also deploy maintenance teams.
“We will be cleaning the plants in parallel with other actions so that we can move and progress forward in a sustainable manner.,” he added.
Strategic focus points nentioned by Gopane in his “parallel implementation” strategy include:
 Unblocking of manholes and dredging and assessment of network infrastructure using RF cameras and drones.
 Dredging accumulated sludge at discharge points in the Vaal River itself
 Mobilisation of Operations and Maintenance Teams
 Setting up a hi-tech Control Centre in Emfuleni (possibly in Sebokeng) to monitor all aspects of the prooject in real-time
 Simultaneously cleaning up waste water plants and upgrading pump stations
Gopane emphasised the importance of assessing the state of the municipal pipe network first regarding thickness of pipes as as it might not be necessary to replace it all.
ERWAT formally started its project on 1December, almost a year to the day that the SA Defence force was deployed in a high profile crisis management operation in the Vaal.
Called the “Vaal Army”, the personnel consisted of both professional engineer s and hundreds of soldiers to be used in static guarding roles on municipal infrastructure throughout Emfuleni.
The Vaal Army deployment has been extended to end January 2020 to allow the deployment of a security company whose functions would include riot control, according to ERWAT tender requirements.