Water and Sanitation Deputy Minister Sello Seitlholo has noted visible operational improvement at the Percy Stewart Wastewater Treatment Works in Mogale City, Gauteng, although more work is still required to ensure treated wastewater meets required national standards.
Seitlholo made the remarks during a working visit to Mogale City Local Municipality on Monday, where he met with municipal leaders and inspected wastewater infrastructure affecting the Cradle of Humankind World Heritage Site, due to poor effluent discharged to the Blougatespruit, Bloubankspruit tributaries and the Crocodile River from their wastewater systems.
According to the latest Green Drop Report, Mogale City’s wastewater systems continue to perform poorly overall, with scores below 30%.
Percy Stewart Wastewater Treatment Works recorded a performance score of 68%, while the Flip Human Wastewater Treatment Works achieved 64% and the Magaliesburg Wastewater Treatment Works performed dismally at 49%.
The Deputy Minister held a stakeholder engagement with the executive mayors of Mogale City Local Municipality, Rand West City Local Municipality and Merafong City Local Municipality to discuss pollution concerns linked to wastewater discharged into the Blougatspruit, Bloubankspruit tributaries and ultimately the Crocodile River.
Seitlholo’s engagement formed part of the department’s ongoing programme to monitor municipal water and wastewater systems, strengthen regulatory compliance, and support municipalities in addressing the problem of water pollution caused by untreated waste released in the water courses in the Rand West region.
During the engagements, mayors expressed their commitment to improve the standard of effluent released into the water courses, as well as the operational improvement of the wastewater infrastructure in their municipalities.
Following the meeting, the Deputy Minister conducted an oversight inspection at the Percy Stewart Wastewater Treatment Works, which is currently undergoing refurbishment, to assess the operational status and performance of the infrastructure.
While acknowledging significant improvement in the operations at the plant, he said critical work still needed to be completed, including the refurbishment of non-operational pump stations.
Seitlholo warned that failure to resolve these issues will continue to affect downstream water users, including the Cradle of Humankind World Heritage Site and the Crocodile River system, which feeds into the Hartbeespoort Dam.
The Hartbeespoort Dam serves as a water source for Madibeng Local Municipality and supports irrigation activities managed by the Hartbeespoort Irrigation Board.
“There are major improvements that have been made in most parts of the Wastewater Treatment Works, but there is more to be done to bring the treated effluent to the required standards. In the coming months, the municipality will conclude the dosing of the effluent to remove E. coli bacteria from the treated effluent.
“However, there are other municipalities such as Merafong Local Municipality, which is still in a critical stage as far as the Green Drop assessment is concerned. The Department of Water and Sanitation will continue to work with the municipality to bring a turnaround to the municipality’s wastewater treatment works,” Seitlholo said.
Over the past five years, the department has supported Mogale City through the Water Services Infrastructure Grant (WSIG) to help address water and sanitation challenges, including refurbishment work at the Percy Stewart plant.
The municipality has benefited from the WSIG funding for the refurbishment of the Percy Stewart plant, which discharges its effluent into the Blougatespruit and Bloubankspruit.
Executive Mayor of Mogale City, Lucky Sele, acknowledged that although improvements had been made at the wastewater treatment facility, the municipality had regressed in recent Green Drop assessments.
“We have worked tirelessly to bring the plant to functionality, and we hope that in the next Green Drop evaluations, we will be able to do better as the city,” Sele said. - SAnews.gov.za
