The Buffalo City Metro (BCM) has blamed acts of vandalism and ageing infrastructure as main factors contributing to persistent sewage spillages following the recent spate of theft and vandalism of water infrastructure property in Buffalo City region.
The BCM safety and security cluster led by police has been raiding several scrap metal dealerships following a spate of theft and vandalism of water infrastructure property which has resulted in water outages in the greater East London and Mdantsane.
The Metro has identified Parkside, Arcadia, Mdantsane, Duncan Village, Scenery Park and the East London CBD as hotspot areas plagued by the spate of theft and vandalism of municipal infrastructure property.
Duncan Village, a densely populated area, constantly experience sewage spillages believed to be triggered by ageing infrastructure while the Nahoon Outfall Sewer and Pump Station sewer spillage is also due to deteriorating old infrastructure.
BCM spokesperson, Samkelo Ngwenya, said vandalism of municipal infrastructure includes constant damage of manhole covers, resulting in foreign objects getting to the sewer pipes causing blockages and vandalism of pump stations and treatment plants for copper, rendering them dysfunctional.
“On the issue of vandalism, while this has reached unprecedented levels as a nationwide issue, the Metro has formed partnerships with the security cluster led by police and this has led to crackdown operations particularly on scrap metal dealerships,” said Ngwenya. The Metro has reprioritised recapitalisation and maintenance of wastewater treatment infrastructure. “We have partnered with City of Oldenburg in Lower Saxony province of Germany to upgrade the East Bank Water Treatment Plant,” said Ngwenya.
BCM has appointed experts with a mandate to focus on investigating a section of bulk sewer pipeline along the western bank of the Nahoon River between Batting Road bridge and Ihlanza Pumpstation near Nahoon Beach in an attempt to fix continuous sewer spillages from the existing Nahoon Bulk Outfall Sewer (NBOS) pipeline due to ageing infrastructure.
“A particular focus was also to investigate solutions to limit sewage spills from a silt trap and emergency overflow structure located along Lower Ridge Road,” added Ngwenya.
DA Buffalo City caucus leader, Sue Bentley said the Metro was spending exorbitant amounts on Ebuhlanti/Marina Glen upgrade while Buffalo City has a crisis of sewage running down the streets into rivers.
