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Enquiries: T Ntili
Telephone: 051 405 9000
Reference: 6/2/2/6
MINISTER OF WATER AND ENVIRONMENTAL AFFAIRS
NATIONAL ASSEMBLY: QUESTION 2203 FOR WRITTEN REPLY
A draft reply to the above question asked by Mr G R Morgan (DA) is attached
for your consideration.
ACTING DIRECTOR-GENERAL
DATE:
DRAFT REPLY APPROVED/AMENDED
MRS B E E MOLEWA, MP
MINISTER OF WATER AND ENVIRONMENTAL AFFAIRS
DATE:
NATIONAL ASSEMBLY
FOR WRITTEN REPLY
QUESTION NO 2203
DATE OF PUBLICATION IN INTERNAL QUESTION PAPER: 19 AUGUST 2011
(INTERNAL QUESTION PAPER NO. 24)
2203. Mr G R Morgan (DA) to ask the Minister of Water and Environmental
Affairs:
(1) With reference to her reply to the National Council of Provinces
to Question 153 on 13 May 2010, what is the current state of
sewerage infrastructure in the Matjhabeng Local Municipality;
(2) whether any (a) directives have been issued or (b) criminal
charges have been brought against the municipality since her
reply; if not, why not, in each case; if so, what are the
relevant details in each case;
(3) whether her department is currently offering any assistance to the
municipality to improve the sewerage infrastructure; if not, why
not; if so, what are the relevant details;
(4) whether any pollution events have been reported to her department
since her reply; if so, what are the relevant details;
(5) (a) on what dates were the last three visits by compliance and
enforcement officers of her department brought to assess
compliance of sewerage infrastructure and (b) with regard to
each assessment, what is the (i) name and (ii) designation of
each specified official?
NW2577E
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REPLY:
1) Matjhabeng Local Municipality has a total of eleven (11) WWTWs;
refer to the table below on the current state of each sewerage
and the interventions by the Department.
|No |Name of WWTWs |Current Status of |Interventions by the Department |
| | |WWTWs | |
|1 |Theronia WWTW |Functional, but |Refurbishment and maintenance will |
| | |overloaded. |be completed by end of September |
| | | |2011 |
|2 |Odendaalsrus |Currently the plant |Refurbishment and upgrading will be |
| |WWTW |is being refurbished|completed by end of September 2011 |
| | |and upgraded | |
|3 |Witpan WWTW |Flooded and |Technical report compiled and |
| | |non-functional |approved by Department, Human |
| | | |Settlement and CoGTA. |
|4 |Thabong WWTW |Functional |The Department is providing |
| | | |technical support to increase the |
| | | |capacity of the plant to 24ML/day â |
| | | |department provides inputs in the |
| | | |development of the technical report |
| | | |and designs. The Department is |
| | | |evaluating the variation order to |
| | | |complete phase 1 (Supply and |
| | | |delivery of mobile pumps, dehydrator|
| | | |slap and refurbishment of the |
| | | |buildings |
|5 |Virginia WWTW |The plant is not |The Department renders support by |
| | |effectively |evaluating the technical report for |
| | |operational â the |MIG funding |
| | |aerators are not | |
| | |functional | |
|6 |Phomolong WWTW |Not effectively |The Department issued a directive to|
| | |operational |the municipality to provide an |
| | | |action plan and relevant budget to |
| | | |rectify the non-functioning units. |
| | | |The Department has approved the |
| | | |outfall sewer design for MIG funding|
|7 |Ventersburg WWTW|The oxidation pond |No intervention from the Department |
| | |system is overloaded|except for the technical advice |
| | |and pond walls |provided. The Department is in a |
| | |leaking |process to issue a non-compliance |
| | | |letter to the municipality as result|
| | | |of the Green Drop report. The |
| | | |municipality needs to budget for the|
| | | |upgrade of the plant. |
|8 |Hennenman WWTW |Not effectively |The Department issued a directive to|
| | |operational |the municipality to provide an |
| | | |action plan and relevant budget to |
| | | |rectify the non-functioning units. |
| | | |The Department has approved the |
| | | |outfall sewer design for MIG funding|
|9 |Kutlwanong WWTW |Not effectively |The Department is in a process to |
| | |operational |issue a non-compliance letter to the|
| | |(clarifiers and |municipality as result of the Green |
| | |aerators not |Drop report. |
| | |functional). | |
| | |Upgrading of the | |
| | |WWTW is in progress | |
|10 |Whites WWTW |De-commissioned, |No intervention from the Department |
| | |only pump station | |
| | |remaining. Sewerage | |
| | |is directed to | |
| | |Hennenman WWTW | |
|11 |Allanridge WWTW |Not effectively |The Department renders support by |
| | |operational |evaluating the technical report for |
| | | |MIG funding |
(2)(a) Yes, directives have been issued with regard to the
Hennenman and Phomolong WWTWs on 17 June 2011 to address the
following:
⢠To provide the Department with a detailed short term action
plan that focuses on the repairing of the non operational
infrastructure at the two WWTWs.
⢠To specify the financial breakdown in the action plan
according to the actions required to stop the disposal of
water containing waste in a manner that is detrimentally
impacting on the water resource.
⢠To specify the timeframes for the specific actions to be
completed.
(2)(b) Yes, criminal charges were brought against the Municipality on
7 March 2006 and the trial date has been set from 28 February to
9 March 2012 at the Welkon Magistrate Court.
(3) Subsequent to the funding of R26 million which was provided by the
Department during 2009/10 financial year, the Department
continues to monitor the projects which are still in the
upgrading/refurbishment process. Such projects will be completed
by the end of August 2011. In addition, the Department is
assisting the municipality to acquire Municipal Infrastructure
Grant funding from the Department of Cooperative Governance and
Traditional Affairs for the upgrading of the Phomolong outfall
line, the Virginia WWTW and the Hennenman WWTW.
(4) Yes, the Department has been informed of pollution events, i.e.
the Phomolong WWTW is discharging partially treated effluent to
the water resource and that, the waste water at the Hennenman
WWTW, is also discharging partially treated effluent to the
water resource.
(5)(i) Table 1 below reflects the details of the last three site
visits by the Department.
Table 1: Details of site visits
|No |Date of site |Area visited |
| |visit visited | |
|1 |11/03/2011 |Hennenman and Phomolong WWTWs |
|2 |12/05/2011 |Witpan WWTW and Klippan Pump Station |
|3 |21/06/2011 |Virginia, Thabong and Theronia WWTWs |
|4 |22/06/2011 |Hennenman and Phomolong WWTWs |
|5 |27/06/2011 |Allanridge and Odendaalsrus WWTWs |
(5)(ii) The last three site visits were conducted by two (2)
Environmental Officer Production and one (1) Graduate Trainee
(Details furnished).
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