The Milnerton Lagoon quarterly meeting yielded welcoming and positive news, environmentalists say, but now the waiting game is on for implementation.
The meeting was held last Wednesday to update the community on the City of Cape Town’s initiatives to help improve the Milnerton Lagoon’s water quality.
The City previously provided updates on the effective short-term solutions, which are already showing significant improvements in effluent quality at the Potsdam Wastewater Treatment Works (WWTW) and water pollution mitigation measures in place, such as the installation of litter traps.
Caroline Marx, one of the environmentalists in attendance, said the welcome news is that the effluent water discharged from Potsdam WWTW has been 100% compliant with safety standards for the past three weeks and that other structural improvements are ahead of schedule.
“Comprehensive feedback was also given around the planned aeration trial aimed at reducing any smell and which is planned to start in October, as well as the proposed dredging plan,” Marx says.
While the water quality is much improved after the heavy rains, Marx says it was disappointing that the City still could not identify the source of the sewage pollution which resulted in the three-month average E Coli levels of over 900 000 cfu/100 ml immediately below Potsdam between February and May.
Upgrades
In the coming years, the City says they aim to restore the lagoon environment through multi-billion rand sewerage and storm water infrastructure upgrades, coupled with on-the-ground pollution mitigation measures.
Three of these major infrastructure upgrades are already under way: the R5,2 billion Potsdam WWTW upgrade, R430 million on Montague Gardens bulk sewer rehabilitation, and R118 million invested in the Koeberg pump station upgrade.
“The City…is fully committed to restoring the quality and health of Milnerton Lagoon and has devised a comprehensive action plan to achieve this goal. The plan encompasses short-term interventions as well as long-term strategies to address urban pollution in the lagoon. We encourage residents living near and around this area to come to our next public meeting to get the latest updates on the progress of various interventions first-hand,” says the City’s Mayco member for water and sanitation, Zahid Badroodien.
