Tshwane Metro officials can no longer sweep the collapse of the Metro’s waste water treatment works under the rug. It jeopardises residents’ health and violates environmental laws.
According to a quarterly oversight report by the Department of Utilities, recently tabled to the Council, it is evident that the main waste water treatment works have continued to deteriorate.
Sunderland and Sandspruit are functioning at a shocking 26,3% capacity and Rooiwal North at 17,9%, while Babelegi has collapsed to a mere 17,4% compliance.
The report makes absolutely no mention of the Metro’s 12 other waste water treatment works. By failing to report on the state of the rest of these works, the coalition government is deliberately trying to cover up the full extent of this ecological disaster.
Poorly managing waste water treatment works does not only amount to incompetence, but a crime against communities dependent on clean water.
Due to the collapse, untreated sewage is dumped into all the rivers in and around Pretoria – such as the Apies, Hennops and many others.
This daily dumping makes it impossible for downstream purification plants to supply safe drinking water.
Consequently, the quality of tap water in Temba and Bronkhorstspruit is well below the national legal safety standard (SANS 241).
This contaminated tap water poses a direct health risk to families. Furthermore, farmers in the area can no longer use river water, and the underground water table has become so severely polluted that boreholes are rendered unusable.
The Freedom Front Plus (VF Plus) has repeatedly urged the Council to earmark sufficient funds for restoring its waste water treatment works to full capacity.
The party also warned against the appointment of untrained personnel, overloading specific treatment works and the irregular redirecting of funds earmarked for infrastructure.
The Freedom Front Plus strongly condemns the coalition’s attempts to manipulate the data or obscure it behind quarterly intervals so as to hide the truth before the upcoming elections.
While other parties turn a blind eye, the Freedom Front Plus stands as the final line of defence for fiscal discipline and residents’ constitutional right to a safe environment.
Voting for the Freedom Front Plus on 4 November is a vote to stop the decay, enforce accountability and safeguard communities’ right to clean water.
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