On 07 February 2020, OUTA sent a letter of engagement to the City of Cape Town requesting to engage in finding workable solutions to fix the sewage pollution problem within the Diep River and Milnerton Lagoon.
OUTA tasked independent consultants to take water samples as part of our investigation and according to our sample reports dated 23/01/2020 and 03/02/2020, water pollution sources point to the Potsdam Wastewater Treatment Works (WWTW) and an identified structure believed to be a sewage lift station, these results identifies the City as one of the main culprits of sewage contamination in the Milnerton Lagoon catchment
Furthermore, our results pointed out that the root cause of the pollution is due to the lack of adequate sanitation infrastructure in Joe Slovo (and other surrounding informal settlements) and the collapse of the Potsdam Wastewater Treatment Works, which have resulted in severe sewage contamination of the Milnerton Lagoon.
The management of the wastewater, including the responsibility to prevent hazardous waste from seeping contaminating water resources, is thus the responsibility of the City.
To date no concrete solutions have been tabled by the City and it seems (as is apparent from the water test results above) that the problem has now become an environmental and health issue, which is not receiving the urgent attention it deserves.
Milnerton Lagoon, which is part of the Diep River estuary, forms part of the Table Bay Nature Reserve which is run by the City of Cape Town.
We believe that the City should improve the sanitation infrastructure in Joe Slovo Park and repair the Potsdam WWTW. Resolving these problems will also help address the pollution in the lagoon.
1. Non-legal solutions and engagement:
a. Take our own water samples to establish whether water is being contaminated;
b. Engage with the City to find solutions;
c. Apply pressure on the City by publishing our water results;
d. Engage with the Department of Water and Sanitation and the Green Scorpions to apply pressure or assist the City to fix the issue;
e. Coordinate with civil society and environmental organisations in mobilisation and advocacy campaigns;
f. Pressure on CoGTA to declare the area a disaster and to intervene to fix the Potsdam WWTW.
2. Possible legal solutions:
a. Possible legal action to force the City to fix the Potsdam WWTW;
b. Possible criminal complaints to hold those who are responsible for the maladministration and pollution to account.
Lorem Ipsum is simply dummy text of the printing and typesetting industry. Lorem Ipsum has been the industry's standard dummy text ever since the 1500s, when an unknown printer took a galley of type and scrambled it to make a type specimen book. It has survived not only five centuries, but also the leap into electronic typesetting, remaining essentially unchanged. It was popularised in the 1960s with the release of Letraset sheets containing Lorem Ipsum passages, and more recently with desktop publishing software like Aldus PageMaker including versions of Lorem Ipsum.
