The Department of Water and Sanitation (DWS) on Wednesday acknowledged the extent to which the condition of the Vaal river had deteriorated in recent months, which the department said was “posing a serious social and economic challenge” for the country.
To mitigate the challenge, the department said that it had sourced the expertise of the City of Ekurhuleni’s entity, the Ekurhuleni Water Care Company (Erwat) as an implementing agent, to intervene in unblocking pipes to ease the flow of effluent to the Sebokeng Waste Water Treatment Works.
The original treatment works at Sebokeng were previously receiving 100 Mℓ/d of wastewater but currently only get 20 Mℓ/d, meaning the old plant is not fully operational.
In order to get the work off the ground, Erwat has advertised for two tenders that will be closing shortly, and various other tenders will be advertised in the coming months as the work progresses.
These tenders will mainly focus on refurbishing ageing wastewater treatment works to prevent the ongoing sewage spillages into the Vaal river, the DWS explained in a statement.
Until now, the department said that it had “made significant strides” by way of sourcing funding towards the intervention. It currently has R176-million available to tackle the pollution.
A separate amount of R80-million has already been paid to the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) for the work the soldiers had undertaken to stop the pollution.
In the coming months, Erwat will appoint a security company to prevent acts of vandalism and theft of infrastructure, which the DWS had said “is vital given the fact that the services of the SANDF would be curtailed at the end of October".