Cape Town - The City of Cape Town says it is continuously reviewing its beach closure protocols to ensure an efficient response that will limit the impact on people and the environment, as Eskom on Tuesday announced Stage 6 load shedding until further notice.
The City has said that load shedding played a role in sewer spills and overflows affecting the coastline. In recent weeks, a number of beaches have been closed and then promptly reopened, including Muizenberg, Fish Hoek and Bakoven.
“Unfortunately, with high, prolonged stages of load shedding, there could be sewer spills and overflows, despite the City’s contingency measures. An added challenge is the dumping of inappropriate material in the sewer system, which leads to blockages.
“Where sustained high stages of load shedding and illegal dumping affect City sewer pump stations and related infrastructure, we immediately act in accordance with a standing sewage spill protocol to facilitate a well-co-ordinated, swift and efficient response across various City departments,” the City said.
The City added that quick responses from its teams over the festive season enabled them to keep 99% of the coastline open and safe for all.
“We are continuously reviewing our beach closure protocol to ensure an efficient and effective response that will limit the impact on users and the environment.
“In addition, we have started a trial of an Uninterrupted Power Supply system at one of the pump stations to determine how this will limit the impact of load shedding on our infrastructure. We cannot disclose the location of the UPS as the batteries are prone to vandalism and theft.”
As a means to mitigate the impact of load shedding, larger priority sewer pump stations are fitted with permanent generators as a measure to increase the resilience of sanitation supply systems, and maintenance staff are on standby and will use mobile generators to power smaller pumps.
All pump stations are also fitted with telemetry to help monitor the sump levels of the facilities.
Cape Times