Question NW413 to the Minister of Human Settlements, Water and Sanitation
25 May 2020 - NW413
Powell, Ms EL to ask the Minister of Human Settlements, Water and Sanitation
In view of the Mpophomeni station system which recently collapsed resulting in sewage leaking into Midmar Dam (details furnished), (a) what steps does she intend to take to bring immediate relief to this situation and, following the recent announcement by uMngeni Water that R388 million would be allocated to upgrade and recommission the Mpophomeni Works (details furnished), (b) by what date will the R388 million upgrade of the Mpophomeni Works by uMngeni Water be completed?
Reply:
(a) The Department of Water and Sanitation (DWS) had on 05 December 2019 issued a Notice of Intention to Issue a Directive in terms of Section 19 (3) of the National Water Act, 1998 (Act No. 36 of 1998) to UMgungundlovu District Municipality (UMDM); the Notice was alerting the UMgungundlovu District Municipality about the contraventions of polluting water resources and the remedial actions that need to be undertaken.
- A follow up inspection was undertaken on 24 January 2020 to ensure compliance with the issued Notice and it was found that the manholes that were blocked and overflowing were fixed.
- There are still recurrences due to insufficient capacity of the existing system and challenges with aging infrastructure. To rectify this, UMgungundlovu District Municipality has commenced with a project of upgrading the Mpophomeni sewer reticulation system on 1 April 2020. This project is separate from the Mpophomeni WWTW upgrade and will be undertaken in parallel.
(b) The upgrade of Mpophomeni WWTW commenced in January 2020 and will be completed in the course of 2022.