The City of Cape Town’s Water and Sanitation Department is launching a Sewer Spill Reduction Plan to help contend with more than 300 sewer blockages and overflows in the city every day. The plan targets a 50% reduction by 2030, through a combination of strategic upgrades, intensified proactive maintenance, more efficient use of resources, and importantly – community education.

The City of Cape Town Water Strategy has identified improving the health of rivers, vleis and water courses as a priority and has set an ambitious target to transform the City into a Water Sensitive City by 2040.

Key to achieving this target will be the reduction of foreign objects in the City’s sewers through education, increased proactive cleaning, as well as improved coordination and synergy with other City directorates.

Sewer blockage hotspot areas such as Khayelitsha, Phoenix/Joe Slovo, Dunoon, Wallacedene, Wesbank, Montrose Park will benefit, among others.

By 2030, the department’s goal is to:

1. Decrease the number of sewage spills per 100km of pipeline to 50 per month from a baseline of 102 (total network length 9400+km)
2. Increase the number of kilometres of sewage pipes that are proactively jetted to 1 860km from a baseline of 50km; and
3. Increase the length of network replaced to 186km of sewage pipes per year from a baseline of 28km.

Over the next three years, more than R10 billion of the City’s R29 billion capital expenditure plan will be invested in water and sanitation infrastructure to support sustainable development, of which R1,6 billion is specifically for conveying sewage.

‘While eliminating sewer overflows is still largely dependent on residents using sewers correctly, the City recognises the serious risks sewer overflows pose to Health and the impact they have on the dignity of community, and is reprioritising resources from other areas to address this more proactively.

‘I visited Khayelitsha with our sanitation teams and saw first-hand the problems our communities live with. Our teams are constantly working to provide short term relief from blockages and other overflows, to ensure clean and healthy environments for our residents,’

‘Whilst on the Khayelitsha tour, I also spoke to our depot teams who shared their reality of working in volatile environments with me. It is challenging for the teams to react quickly to spills in some communities due to the safety risk to the City’s equipment and life.

‘Although the City is significantly increasing the resources available for dealing with sewer overflows, about 75% of overflows would not occur in the first place if residents used sewers correctly. This would mean only flushing human waste and toilet paper. Ensuring that illegal stormwater connections are addressed is also extremely important as these cause the sewers to flood during rainfall.  At the same time, the City must keep up with demands placed on underground infrastructure as a result of rapid urbanisation.

‘The City is also prioritising the high-priority areas for reactive maintenance that includes sewer line jetting and over-pumping. We are also cognisant that the department depends on a well trained and equipped labour force to effect this we will embark on a drive to fill key vacancies, acquire critical skills, and ensure that equipment is in a good state.

‘Lastly, the City is running a campaign called Bin it, Don’t block it to raise awareness on how to prevent sewer overflows, and we are calling on communities to educate themselves and their peers. At the end of the day it is residents who pay for the work to remove sewer blockages, and this money could be used for other purposes in the community. Prevention is better than cure, as the saying goes,’ said Councillor Zahid Badroodien, Mayoral Committee Member for Water and Waste.

Source: City Of Cape Town