Ms Maureen Stewart of SAVE the VAAL ENVIRONMENT (SAVE) wrote the opinion piece below with reference to the article: “Waste Water Treatment Plant to be commissioned on Vaal River”, which was published on MooiVaal Media’s online platforms on May 13, 2020:
SAVE has received numerous calls from its Emfuleni residents expressing disbelief at the mentioned article. We applaud the Minister of Water and Sanitation, Lindiwe Sisulu, for taking a leadership role in this project. There is now a concerted effort to resolve Emfuleni’s pollution problems.
The completion of the expansion to the Sebokeng Waste Water Treatment Plant is a step in the right direction. This project started years ago and came to a standstill (due to lack of funds) in 2018 when it was 96% complete. There’s not too far to go and July 2020 seems to be a realistic completion date.
The new module will treat about one third of Sebokeng’s waste water when it is operational. We trust that the rest of the Sebokeng plant will be fully functional at the same time. The working plant was vandalised in May 2018 and had to be shut down. This resulted in a daily flow 150 million litres of raw sewage daily into the Rietspruit and Vaal River since the end of May 2018.
There’s a way to go yet before we see a sewage pollution-free Vaal River. The pump stations need to be fully functional. Their failure is particularly noticeable in Vereeniging with ongoing high pollution levels in the river and in the streets.
Work is required on the Rietspruit plant which is currently operating at some 30% capacity and has been steadily deteriorating for years. Yet, its repair programme has been left on the back burner. This plant has caused a build-up of some 1,5 m of black sludge on the riverbed where the Rietspruit enters Loch Vaal causing massive environmental damage.
We look forward to improved communication from the Department of Water and Sanitation regarding progress. SAVE has been assured that funds are earmarked for the continuation of this project and we hope to see to a sewage-free Vaal River become a reality.
Regards
Maureen Stewart
SAVE theVAAL ENVIRONMENT
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