Cape Town – Zeekoevlei residents are up in arms over a second “sewage spill” in the area in about six weeks.
Friends of Zeekoevlei and Rondevlei chairperson Sidney Jacobs said raw sewage and plastics were reported flowing into the water from the Big Lotus River on September 17 – the second spill recorded in a number of weeks.
Residents contacted City officials from various departments with requests for information and demands for immediate action to stop the spill in the internationally recognised Ramsar site.
Jacobs said to date no information had been forthcoming about where the spill originated.
“Formally we have not received any responses from the City but we know that many steps are/have been taken upstream to try and find the real source and also combat the spill coming into the Vlei at an alarming level.
“We must say that we are shocked at this as we have had amazing co-operation from the City when we have had huge clean-ups and amazing initiatives to keep our rivers and vlei clean,” he said.
“The Vlei was just re-opened for two weeks – and then this latest spill happened.”
Volunteer residents, with support from the False Bay Nature Reserve rangers, did a litter clean-up of the eastern shore of Zeekoevlei recently.
Mayco Member for Waste and Water Xanthea Limberg said the City was currently conducting a thorough series of tests at Zeekoevlei as well as site visits to the Big Lotus catchment to determine the situation with respect to water quality and any sewage spills or other pollution.
“As soon as the results of the tests and investigations are available, these will be communicated to stakeholders and the public, along with all mitigation and management measures being taken,” Limberg said.
Cape Times