Ageing infrastructure and load-shedding cause sewage spills and beach closures in Cape Town

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A section of Strand Beach on the False Bay coastline and Small Bay in Blaauwberg, as well as a section of Fish Hoek Beach were temporarily closed over New Year because of sewage spills. 

The city issued a statement on 1 January saying: “City Health will be taking water samples for water quality testing until such time as the levels are within the minimum requirement for recreational activities as determined by the National Water Quality Guidelines.” 

Small Bay and the Deep Blue section of Strand Beach were reopened on 3 January but Fish Hoek Beach remained closed.

So what was the problem

The Deep Blue section was closed because of an electrical fault at the pump station and, according to the city, the issue has been resolved.

“Small Bay was closed due to a damaged sewer pipe. The damaged pipe section was isolated inside the manhole. Sewer flow is being diverted by means of a mobile pump that is running 24 hours. Spillage onto the beach is contained. Repairs to the damaged section will be resolved depending on the tide timetable,” the statement read. 

Cape Town’s deputy mayor, Eddie Andrew, said that, given load-shedding, backup power supplies at the 487 sewer pump stations would form part of a 10-year capital pipeline budget to respond to the replacement of ageing infrastructure and pump stations. 

“So when there is an outage of two to four hours we are still perfectly fine to pump sewer when we need to do so,” he said.

He added that part of the problem was rapid urbanisation. “There are a lot more people living in cities and it has an impact on the infrastructure and, as the City of Cape Town, we recognise that and have significantly increased our investment over the past year.” 

The irresponsible disposal of waste was also a contributing factor to the problems with sewer systems.

Andrew said there was an economic cost too, after an estate agent lost a sale on a property because of the stench. 

Wastewater needs treating 

Kevin Winter, a senior lecturer in the University of Cape Town’s department of environmental and geographical science, said: “Recently we see the number of spillages and events that have happened from particular wastewater treatment works where the wastewater found its way into the stormwater channels into the rivers and eventually into the sea, and that’s what’s caused some of the most drama in the last couple of days.”

He said it was important to note that officials were monitoring, measuring and managing the situation in Cape Town. But, he added, the city should have done much more to avoid the spillages given the effect of load-shedding on the system. 

“During Day Zero a lot of investment was put into thinking about different ways to manage the water supply and that’s where we had a lot of our attention diverted to thinking about water supply rather than water quality,” said Winter. 

He believes that by 2030, unless the City of Cape Town doubles its capacity in terms of its wastewater treatment technology there would be more beach closures. 

Monitoring the situation

The city will continue to take water samples for water quality testing to ensure the levels are within the minimum requirement for recreational activities as determined by the National Water Quality Guidelines.

“In the meantime, the public is advised to avoid contact with the water in the affected area until further notice. This is a precaution as contact with the water could result in potential gastrointestinal issues and therefore any person who enters the water does so at their own risk,” warned the city in the statement.