By Craig Kotze
Emfuleni’s By-Laws are being reviewed to more effectively combat clogging of the sewer system in all communities – from residential to business – and accelerate the clean-up process in the Vaal River sewage pollution project.
Organised business has now appealed to all businesses – especially the food sector – and the general public – to co-operate and ensure that undesireable waste, especially restaurant or cooking fats and oils, are not dumped or flushed into the sewer system illegally.
ELM and waste water specialist ERWAT have now started the process of reviewing compliance and By-Law gaps for better monitoring and policing of the sewer system network repair and clean-up process, ERWAT MD Tumelo Gopane announced last week.
Gopane made the announcement on Tuesday last week during a visit by Water and Sanitation Minister Lindiwe Sisulu to the Vaal to assess progress in combating ongoing sewage pollution of both Emfuleni communities and the Vaal River itself.
The Golden Triangle Chamber of Commerce (GTCoC) immediately came out in support of the process and has launched an urgent appeal to businesses to comply with all relevant By-Laws – and for the general public to be better educated as to what is flushed into the sewer system domestically as well.
“Organised business recognises that the business sector as a whole and specifically our GTCoC members should where applicable review their compliance and where necessary take steps to be fully compliant,” said GTCoC Water and Sanitation spokesperson Rosemary Cloete-Anderson.
Both Gopane and Cloete-Anderson focused on the role of non-compliant business in the food sector which did not establish or properly maintain fat traps as required by Law and dumped food waste and fats into the sewer system.
Gopane also appealed to the public not to flush or dump sanitary or oral hygiene products such as dental floss into the sewer system – and also urged the public to refrain from dumping rubble and other material into man-holes.
ERWAT is escalating its operations on the sewer network and its mapping efforts to determine exactly the present state of the ageing network.
Cloete-Anderson again urged that communication efforts to both inform and change the behaviour of all relevant communities and sectors be viewed as a priority by Government – with irresponsible behaviours by certain businesses and communities being a case in point.
“Unless we directly change the behaviour of all stakeholders and communities, we will find that the millions we are now or will be spending will be fruitless because the problem will simply develop again and all trust will disappear into even greater cynicism.
“It should be clear to all involved that community resistance and associated behaviours – often fuelled by simple ignorance or lack of credible official information – are the main barriers to the operational success of this project by ERWAT and other Government stakeholders,” said Cloete-Anderson.
ELM did not respond to requests for comment on how the By-Law review would be structured or conducted.
Cloete-Anderson said that multi-level communication should already have been structured and implemented before ERWAT began operations and should in fact have been intensified now that the Army was withdrawing at the end of January.
ERWAT has contracted in a private security company to take over security after the Army withdrawal but did not release the name.
“There is now the possibility of a real-setback to clean-up and refurbishment operations already started because community resistance in a variety of forms has already escalated markedly in recent weeks,” said Cloete-Anderson.
The Water and Sanitation Department said last week that community resistance had already cost an estimated R79 million due to delays and sabotage.