Fears rise amid dysfunctional sewerage plant

EPHRAIM MOGALE – The Democratic Alliance (DA) constituency head for Ephraim Mogale Local Municipality, Lindy Wilson and the party’s provincial spokesperson for Coghsta, Jacques Smalle together with councilor, Flip Jacobs embarked on an oversight inspection at the EPMLM sewerage plant on Tuesday, 06 September 2022.

The DA said the purpose of the oversight inspection at the facility was to assess the extent of the crisis of raw sewerage spilling into rivers and water supplies in the local municipality and the effect of the predicament on the environment and its health implications on residents.

According to the party, the dysfunctional sewerage plant and the collapsed sewerage system in EPMLM are negatively impacting on agricultural activities in the area and threaten the livelihoods of many residents.

Councillor Jacobs indicated that there was absolutely nothing at the ditch where the waste at the plant should be and that showed that the solid was no longer flowing into the separation pit but straight to the dam.

Jacobs that also meant the sewerage plant was not working as it should and that there was only one part of it which was currently working.

He added that they discovered that there was no enough electricity to run the entire sewerage system effectively and that the other system’s motors were also broken down.

“It is a very bad situation at the sewerage plant as it looks like the sewerage is diverted to flow straight to the river-bed after Elands River. We will continue investigating on the matter,” further complaint Jacobs.

He added that they were also waiting for the water samples to be taken in and around Elands River as well as at irrigation farms, because most of the water coming from Elands River and Olifants River is contaminated and that was mostly due to the bad state of the sewerage plant.

“The situation has dire consequences for the farming community there and the people staying around the Flag Boshielo Dam area,” concluded Jacobs.

Khomotso Ndlovu, Sekhukhune District Municipality’s Acting Communication Manager, indicated that they were alert to the situation of the sewer and their operations and maintenance team was there (yesterday), Tuesday 6 September 2022 resolving the issue.

Ndlovu said that the long term situation was to change the old pipes from the sewer pump station of which the municipality was currently in the process of doing.

“In the meantime, we will continue to unblock as and when needed,” concluded Ndlovu.