Water and sewage treatment plants take centre stage {writer: Shaun Meyer}

South Africa’s water supplies and the maintenance of its water-related infrastructure have recently been in the media spotlight once again. This time it was particularly the maintenance of sewage treatment plans that caught the attention.

Despite South Africa’s claims of having one of the best water distribution systems in the world and that its water is literally drinkable anywhere in the country, this position is now under threat. South Africans living in rural areas should pay special attention to the quality of their drinking water – more so than in urban areas.

The country now finds itself in a situation where there are increasing examples of water being contaminated by poor maintenance of certain sewage plants.

According to a recent study, 83% of water treatment plants were not effective, with less than 205 that are in a good working condition.

Pressure set to mount

It does not get any easier for municipalities, with increasing population growth and swelling housing needs that will put pressure on sewage systems that can hardly cope with the population’s needs as it stands currently.

The Department of Water Affairs has denied South Africa is facing a severe water crisis from extensive contamination of its rivers. With the rapidly deteriorating infrastructure, however, it cannot be denied that municipal water distribution facilities are gradually collapsing as metropolitan and local authorities battle to maintain and expand the existing infrastructure.

According to an article in WattNow magazine in 2008, there are a number of sewage works and water recycling plants that have been contaminating municipal areas because of the electricity power cuts of that year. The electricity outages prevented the plants from working, allowing raw effluent to flow into nearby rivers.

In addition, several waste water plants are no longer functioning properly, particularly those near the Vaal River where residents have set up their own committees to try and force authorities to stop discharging untreated effluent into the Klip and Vaal rivers.

At least 30% of the country’s water treatment works require immediate intervention to prevent further outbreaks of waterborne diseases, including dysentery and typhoid.

In a major sewage spill in Durban, some rivers were found to contain bacteria hundred of times higher than the recommended limit.

There was a similar sewage spill in Louis Trichardt in 2007.

Much money was put into providing new houses and giving people access to services in the municipalities, with little concern for water and sewage networks and proper maintenance and upgrading of water works and sewage treatment works. All this can lead to sewage treatment works being too small to service surrounding areas properly.

Helgard Muller, chief director of water services at the Department of Water Affairs, recently said that “850 municipal sewage plants are creaking, if not under strain.”

Water and sewage plants are not being maintained properly by local municipalities across the country and while the situation has not reached crisis levels, work still needs to be done for a resource that is so important for a country such as South Africa, with a growing population and rapid urbanisation.

In some cases around the country, sewage has been flowing into streets – passing homes and causing an unpleasant smell.

Recently, the Athlone sewage treatment plant was in the news after a smell hung in the air over surrounding areas, after raw sewage went septic.

A shortage of experienced workers has developed as local authorities have been unable to replace staff who left their employ over the last decade.

According to the Federation of Unions of South Africa (Fedusa), massive water problems exist: “We are sitting on a time bomb which will affect each and every person in the country.“

Acting director-general of Water Affairs Nobubele Ngele denied there was a water crisis, and said the department’s planning teams were “continuously planning well into the future for all major towns and cities in the country”.

Andre Venter, spokesperson for the Fedusa-affiliated United Association of South Africa, said about the union’s threat to strike if the water crises did not receive adequate attention: ”We are already in a crisis if a mere 7% of the country’s sewage plants received Green Drop status. This means that 93% of sewage plants are not functioning properly.”

Ngele, however, claimed that water purification processes in South Africa were so advanced “that any water, regardless of quality, can be treated to potable (drinkable) quality.”