A major hurdle in the way of a cleaner, greener Buffalo City Metro is the more than R500-million it will have to spend to prevent the collapse of its water and sanitation infrastructure.
The 2015-16 Integrated Development Plan (IDP), which is being driven by new mayor Alfred Mtsi’s administration, states openly that these vital infrastructure systems are poised for disaster.
The report states: “Sewerage systems in the city are well beyond their design lives, are in poor condition and are operating at capacity.”
This is holding back housing development and threatening the environment.
Unlike many other areas of the country, there is enough water, but the IDP reports that pipes are creaking, leaking water and spilling sewage onto streets and into rivers and the ocean.
Laing Dam, which supplies BCM with water, has been hit twice by spillages.
lSeverely overloaded sewerage ponds at Briedbach are spilling non-chlorinated effluent “into the Buffalo river above Laing Dam” and;
lAn “extensively abused” sewer network serving the Zwelitsha treatment works means “spillage feeds directly into the Laing Dam”, the report states.
“Water treatment plants serving BCM are at near capacity for the entire municipality,” the report states.
The metro needs to spend R530-million in the next five years to address the shortage of bulk water conveyance and treatment works and has already allocated R193-million in the 2012-14 medium term revenue and expenditure framework (MTRF) to “alleviate some of the current constraints”.
Operating-at-capacity sewerage systems are “severely constraining” the government’s housing programme and “the environment is under threat from sewage spills and leakages”.
Sludge flows from East Bank treatment works into the sea outfall (pipe outlet) at Bats Cave, and the Hood Point plant merely “screens” sewage before dumping it into the sea off the West Bank.
Interceptor sewers, which feed treatment plants, are starting to “become suspect in structural integrity” (fall apart) between Beacon Bay and Gonubie.
The sewers are choked with roots and are spilling their loads.
Three sewers running along the beachfront from Orient Beach to Bats Cave are also structurally “suspect”, more than 40 years old and in urgent need of replacement.
“No spare capacity exists in these three sewers and overflows occur under storm conditions,” the IDP book states.
A breakdown in any of these pipelines will result in 25 million litres (megalitres) a day “of sewage (spilling) onto beaches” which “will cause closure of all major beaches”.
This spillage would fill 10 Olympic-sized pools daily.
A sewer serving Second Creek and the CBD is collapsing near a tunnel at Pontoon Road.
Without “urgent repair”, it will spill 12-megalitres of sewage over Settlers Way “at the zoo”.
In Duncan Village, car seats, stones, coke bottles, cans, and broken manhole lids are being thrown into the network causing 30 to 50 blockages daily.
Sewage “runs through Duncan Village to the Buffalo river which negatively impacts on Buffalo City as a tourist centre”.
In Mdantsane, 170km of original pitch fibre sewers are collapsing.
Buffalo City Ratepayers’ Forum (BCRF) chairman Andre Swart said: “The decay is there, but the problem is all over, not only in BCM.”
The forum was “especially happy” with BCM for creating an avenue for more participation in the IDP Process.
“It is a great step forward for the whole city,” Swart added.
BKCOB director Les Holbrook said business was excited about the ambitious 15-year plan to revitalise BCM, but could not ignore the “desperate state of our critical infrastructure, which is very old and in very poor condition”.
The chamber’s proposal to the IDP was for BCM to invest “greater funding” in new water storage and water works, reticulation and sanitation.
Holbrook said the digging up of pavements as metro plumbers sought constant leaks and faults in the reticulation was “endless”.
BCM was blessed with abundant rainfall at the moment, but was losing 40 percent of its water through leaks, he said.
BCM spokesman Keith Ngesi said the IDP analysis was “honest” and “talks about the current state of things”.
He said the positive consultative planning process would lead to funding being sourced. — mikel@dispatch.co.za
Metro’s R500m repair crisis
The 2015-16 Integrated Development Plan (IDP), which is being driven by new mayor Alfred Mtsi’s administration, states openly that these vital infrastructure systems are poised for disaster.
The report states: “Sewerage systems in the city are well beyond their design lives, are in poor condition and are operating at capacity.”
This is holding back housing development and threatening the environment.
Unlike many other areas of the country, there is enough water, but the IDP reports that pipes are creaking, leaking water and spilling sewage onto streets and into rivers and the ocean.
Laing Dam, which supplies BCM with water, has been hit twice by spillages.
lSeverely overloaded sewerage ponds at Briedbach are spilling non-chlorinated effluent “into the Buffalo river above Laing Dam” and;
lAn “extensively abused” sewer network serving the Zwelitsha treatment works means “spillage feeds directly into the Laing Dam”, the report states.
“Water treatment plants serving BCM are at near capacity for the entire municipality,” the report states.
The metro needs to spend R530-million in the next five years to address the shortage of bulk water conveyance and treatment works and has already allocated R193-million in the 2012-14 medium term revenue and expenditure framework (MTRF) to “alleviate some of the current constraints”.
Operating-at-capacity sewerage systems are “severely constraining” the government’s housing programme and “the environment is under threat from sewage spills and leakages”.
Sludge flows from East Bank treatment works into the sea outfall (pipe outlet) at Bats Cave, and the Hood Point plant merely “screens” sewage before dumping it into the sea off the West Bank.
Interceptor sewers, which feed treatment plants, are starting to “become suspect in structural integrity” (fall apart) between Beacon Bay and Gonubie.
The sewers are choked with roots and are spilling their loads.
Three sewers running along the beachfront from Orient Beach to Bats Cave are also structurally “suspect”, more than 40 years old and in urgent need of replacement.
“No spare capacity exists in these three sewers and overflows occur under storm conditions,” the IDP book states.
A breakdown in any of these pipelines will result in 25 million litres (megalitres) a day “of sewage (spilling) onto beaches” which “will cause closure of all major beaches”.
This spillage would fill 10 Olympic-sized pools daily.
A sewer serving Second Creek and the CBD is collapsing near a tunnel at Pontoon Road.
Without “urgent repair”, it will spill 12-megalitres of sewage over Settlers Way “at the zoo”.
In Duncan Village, car seats, stones, coke bottles, cans, and broken manhole lids are being thrown into the network causing 30 to 50 blockages daily.
Sewage “runs through Duncan Village to the Buffalo river which negatively impacts on Buffalo City as a tourist centre”.
In Mdantsane, 170km of original pitch fibre sewers are collapsing.
Buffalo City Ratepayers’ Forum (BCRF) chairman Andre Swart said: “The decay is there, but the problem is all over, not only in BCM.”
The forum was “especially happy” with BCM for creating an avenue for more participation in the IDP Process.
“It is a great step forward for the whole city,” Swart added.
BKCOB director Les Holbrook said business was excited about the ambitious 15-year plan to revitalise BCM, but could not ignore the “desperate state of our critical infrastructure, which is very old and in very poor condition”.
The chamber’s proposal to the IDP was for BCM to invest “greater funding” in new water storage and water works, reticulation and sanitation.
Holbrook said the digging up of pavements as metro plumbers sought constant leaks and faults in the reticulation was “endless”.
BCM was blessed with abundant rainfall at the moment, but was losing 40 percent of its water through leaks, he said.
BCM spokesman Keith Ngesi said the IDP analysis was “honest” and “talks about the current state of things”.
He said the positive consultative planning process would lead to funding being sourced. — mikel@dispatch.co.za
Would you like to comment on this article?
Register (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.
Trending Now
Latest Videos