Cape Town - Due to load shedding over the past 10 days has had dire consequences for our coastal beaches. The City said that a small release of sewage from the pump station was released close to Bakoven Beach.
Mayco member for Community Services and Health, Zahid Badroodien said: “When adverse events occur that may impact on water quality, it is standard protocol to erect warning signage as a precautionary measure.
"The incident above occurred during the load shedding period and was resolved very quickly. Small sewage spills that may occur during load shedding is an abnormal, temporary situation and the inference should not be made that the beaches affected are not suited for recreational purposes on a long-term basis. With wave dispersion, the risk is rapidly mitigated.”
Badroodien said the public should be aware that during load shedding it may be that some spills could occur.
“Should this be the case, signage will be erected to warn the public and removed when the potential risk has passed,” he said.
And check out Bakoven pic.twitter.com/P4wrZ5k0Jh
— Liezel V 🦒 (@liezelv) December 17, 2019
The City’s Manager in its Coastal Management Gregg Oelofse, said: "Due to load-shedding the City experienced a sewage pump failure at Bakoven on 11 December 2019. The failure resulted in the minor discharge of sewage into the receiving environment directly adjacent to the pump station.
"The City was able to respond quickly and remedied the situation as per the standard protocol that is in place to deal with such incidents,” Oelofse said.
Oelofse said as a precautionary measure the City installed temporary signage and collected water samples for testing. The City removed the signs on Sunday.
“We can confirm that the results indicate that the water quality is within the acceptable Guidelines for Recreational Use as stipulated by the Department of Environmental Affairs,” he said.
@MarvinCharles17