MIDVAAL. – Concerns have arisen regarding the dysfunctional state of the large wastewater treatment works (WWTW) in the Midvaal area.

Upon reviewing aerial footage obtained of the current state of the WWTW, Professor Anthony Turton, an expert in water management, wastewater, and environmental management from the University of the Free State’s Faculty for Environmental Management, noted several observations.

Professor Turton highlighted that while the WWTW appears to be well engineered, there are three significant issues evident to the trained eye.

“The first is the release of vast quantities of blackwater into the river. This is high in organic matter and low in oxygen. The probable cause is hydraulic overload, which simply means that more sewage enters the plant than it was designed to process, shortening the retention time for biological processes to be completed. The solution to this is to expand the capacity of the plant,” Turton explained in a recent Facebook post.
“The second issue is the failure of the retaining walls along the retention ponds.
This is a structural issue that can worsen if not addressed promptly. However, it will not significantly impact the discharge of blackwater into the river because the plant is hydraulically overloaded. This makes wall repair a secondary problem rather than a primary one,” Turton added.
“The third issue is the presence of blackwater in the chlorine contact channels.
This indicates that the root cause of the problem is hydraulic overload. The water in that portion of the plant should already be clear after all the solids have settled in the clarifiers,” Turton concluded.
Turton noted that the plant appears to be functional in other observable aspects. “All the turbulators are working, which is often not the case in a poorly managed plant.
A logical conclusion is therefore that this plant is generally well-run but cannot cope with the volumes because development and human migration in the catchments area have exceeded the capacity of the plant,” Turton stated.
Turton expressed the opinion that the root cause of this failure is the lack of planning and authorization of development in the catchments. “No matter what money you spend on the plant, anything other than an expansion of capacity will have limited impact. The solution to this is a moratorium on new development until the capacity of the plant has been expanded,” Turton suggested.