New sewage plant for Mtunzini

AFTER six years of lodging complaints, Mtunzini’s residents will finally see the town’s overflowing sewage plant fixed.

The uThungulu District Municipality started ‘emergency refurbishment and upgrade work’ on the malodorous site on Monday after pledging to put a stop to the rot in June.

A new package plant, with the same capacity as the existing one, is currently being manufactured and should be completed and installed by May.

Eager to see the smelly catastrophe resolved is the Mtunzini Conservancy (MC), who stated in a letter to stakeholders that it has been agitating for a remedy for more than six years.

The MC explained the plant only handles sewerage from a quarter of the town and the Zini River Estate, but has been unable to cope with the volume, resulting in raw excrement overflowing into the swamp forest.

‘Over the past five years the situation has become particularly bad with almost daily overflows into the surrounding wetlands,’ said Chairperson Barbara Chedzey.

‘As the MC we represent the environment and it is not right that human waste be pumped directly into a protected area – the Siyaya Coastal Park,’ she said.

‘There are other problem sites in Mtunzini and we hope that the refurbishment will accommodate current users and allow for future expansion.’

In June, uThungulu Municipal Manager Mandla Nkosi said a feasibility study had already been done to establish long- and short-term solutions to the challenges at the plant.

‘The plant is currently overloaded and unable to process the amount of waste it is receiving.

‘A new model plant with ancillaries will be added along with a new chlorine contact tank which will complement the existing contact tank.

‘This will ensure enough retention time to achieve adequate disinfection of the effluent,’ Nkosi said.