Hood Point marine outfall sewer project stalls

Progress on a multimillion-rand plan to establish the Hood Point marine outfall has stalled, raising fears for the environment.

Buffalo City Metro (BCM) said on Thursday that the marine outfall sewer construction had been approved in December 2019, but the municipality had not yet received the coastal waters discharge permit.

An outfall is where a river, drain or sewer empties into the ocean, a river or lake.

“[This is] supposedly owing to necessary environmental impact assessment (EIA) and environmental assessment (EA) processes that need to be concluded,” BCM spokesperson Samkelo Ngwenya said.

“The application process will be resuscitated once the overall scope of the project is well defined.”

East London environmentalist Neil Smith said the waste water treatment system was designed years ago with the sewerage pipeline going into the surf line.

“My question to the municipality is where’s the permit to discharge the sewage into the sea? There was an objection to the marine outfall project some years ago,” Smith said.

“We don’t know in which direction the sewerage spreads as it depends on weather conditions at the time.

“We have this big Water World project [at Leaches Bay] almost around the corner. What happens when the sewage flows in that direction? There are also sections of nature reserves on this coastline.”

Ngwenya said estimated construction budgets were yet to be determined.

“The approval is for the option of provision of a primary treatment facility before discharge of sewage through the marine outfall sewer.

“The approval conditions are to operate the marine outfall sewer for a period of 20 years. BCM should switch to a land-based waste water treatment works at the end of the 20-year operational period,” Ngwenya said.

In 2018, the Dispatch reported that the cost of the proposed project could run between R267m and R1.4bn, depending on the option chosen.

The four alternatives considered by BCM were:

• The current pre-treatment plant operations with effluent being discharged through an offshore marine outfall;

• The current pre-treatment plant operations with the addition of primary treatment, with effluents being discharged through an offshore marine outfall;

• A new wastewater treatment works (WWTW) with a near-shore marine outfall at Leaches Bay on the West Bank; and

• The “do nothing option”.

DA councillor Sue Bentley said the municipality had remained mum about the project’s progress when inquiries were sent.

“I have just escalated the questions about that [Hood Point] to Bhisho because of no response from BCM,” Bentley said.

East London Museum scientist Kevin Cole also had not heard anything from the municipality since objections were raised about the proposed project two years ago.

According to Ngwenya, the municipality has spent R19m of the budget allocation to date. This was done in the 2018/2019 financial year.

“[There were] conduction repairs and refurbishments to the existing pre-treatment screening station, and conducting preliminary designs of the proposed marine outfall sewer.”

West Bank residents have had to live with a sewage stench for years, which still permeates strongly.

On Thursday, the Dispatch found the  waste water treatment works facility was showing signs of disrepair.

Portions of the steel fence were missing almost all the way round, with some having fallen into thick grass where one could easily gain access to the municipal property.