Cape Town - Milnerton residents are up in arms after being told by mayoral committee member for water and waste services, Xanthea Limberg, that it would take five years to clean-up the lagoon, which has been polluted by the Potsdam Wastewater Treatment Works.
They are adamant that they are heading to the courts to force the City to give more concrete plans on how it is going to fix the polluted lagoon that the residents are using for recreational activities.
The Greater Table View Action Forum said it warned the City for years over the dire state of the water quality.
David Ayres, who heads up the planning and biodiversity portfolio at the forum, said the City offered nothing new.
“It seemed that the City’s approach to this meeting, instead of giving concrete plans as to how they are going to stop the pollution that is currently destroying our precious ecosystems and environment, threatening our well-being and health and the main driver of our economy (the environment) came with a plan to filibuster the evening with endless excuses and spin.”
Recently, the City announced plans to upgrade the Potsdam Wastewater Treatment Works. The completion of the upgrade is scheduled for 2025. The City said the treatment plant was not the primary cause of the pollution despite residents saying it was. According to the City there were various sources of pollution.
The City identified Montague Gardens, Dunoon, Doornbach and Phoenix as major contributors to the pollution of the lagoons, and has developed preliminary plans to intercept and divert water from the two main canals serving these areas.
“The City continues to allow rampant and illegal developments which it happily connects to the Potsdam plant in the full knowledge that this will increase the pollution into the Diep River, Milnerton Lagoon and the Table Bay Nature Reserve,” Ayres said.
Limberg said: “In a joint operation between multiple City departments the work undertaken in December yielded a positive result. The plan was to help the lagoon cope with the high levels of pollutants, and one of the best ways to do this was to get as much sea water into the system as possible.
“This in turn replicated a healthy natural functioning estuary. A range of City representatives met with members of the community on Monday evening and shared progress of plans and investments to alleviate challenges in the catchment, which was followed by a question and answer session. This is one of several meetings that have taken place between the City and the community recently, and the City is committed to sustaining a close working relationship with the residents as we drive the projects to improve water quality.”
Among some of the concerns residents have are sewage spills, ageing infrastructure, rampant development and growing numbers of backyard dwellers.
The reserve, managed by the City, has about 880 hectares of land comprising a variety of permanent and seasonal wetlands.
According to the City, the vast majority of sewer overflows were caused by misuse of the system, rather than capacity constraints.
Milnerton Canoe Club chairperson Richard Allen said: “Plans for access to adequate sanitation for informal settlements was not mentioned in the meeting.
“Catchments and pumps to divert the contaminated stormwater problem are back on the cards. These plans were proposed back in 2011 and the first phase is yet to be completed.
“The irony is that the contamination will be pumped to an already failing treatment plant so will probably be discharged straight into the Diep river anyway. Completion of the Potsdam upgrade is scheduled for 2025 if all goes to plan and budgets aren’t redirected again.”
@MarvinCharles17