Durban — The DA and a number of eThekwini councillors marched against the municipality’s failure to fix the Umbilo Wastewater Treatment Works’s collapsing and damaged infrastructure.
The march was led by DA provincial chairperson Dean Macpherson. Tex Collins, West Durban political head, Martin Meyer, the deputy chairperson, and Councillor Vincent Mkhize were among other leaders of the march that took place on Saturday.
DA provincial communications co-ordinator Nqobile Nhleko said that as a result of the damaged infrastructure, raw sewage from the waterworks has been flowing into the Umbilo river, which empties into the ocean.
“The DA then handed over a memorandum demanding that the treatment works be fixed. We have had enough of raw sewage and pollution flowing into our rivers and ocean. Lives and livelihoods are on the line,” said Nhleko.
The march took place just before The International Day of Action For Rivers on Tuesday, which focused on saving, celebrating and creating awareness about the importance of rivers.
WaterCan is a non-profit organisation that aims at assessing water quality and management. They recently tested the quality of the Umbilo River and discovered that the river had high levels of E.coli caused by sewage.
WaterCan worked with another organisation, Adopt a River Eco Solutions, to test the river’s quality. Both organisations ran tests over a six week period and discovered that the E. coli level was extremely high, with the highest count reaching 686 700.
Adopt a River Eco Solutions founder and director Janet Simpkins said: “We are seeing the results of years of neglect of maintenance and lack of upgrades to wastewater infrastructure. Livelihoods, the environment and, certainly in Durban, the local tourism and sport and recreation sectors have all been negatively affected.”
Laura Washington, from the Umbilo River Watch, said that the state of the river was “catastrophic”.
“The river is massively polluted. Simpkins commissioned this test with Save Our Rivers – an organisation that attends to river health across the metro – and Talbot Laboratories did an independent test,” said Washington.
She said that a safe level of E. coli was scientifically considered under 400 units per 100ml. After the test, it showed that the levels in the Umbilo River reached 5 810 units per 100ml – and that only measured human waste. The Queensburgh Resort Park reached 61 310 units per 100ml.
“The Treatment Works also processes industrial waste and we do not know what chemicals and toxic waste are flowing down due to that,” said Washington.
“We believe it is toxic for both humans and wildlife as we discovered animal carcasses a few weeks ago,” said Washington.
Washington said the other issue was the stench that disrupted human well-being, especially for those people living in the communities bordering the Treatment Works.
“I live 3 km away and my home smelled like an overused toilet,” said Washington.
She said that people who lived nearby were reluctant to invite guests because of the smell, and that both the river quality and smell affects Pinetown and neighbouring areas; all the way next to the opening of the river.
Earlier this year, a community member complained that it was unacceptable that no one could stand next to the river, or come into contact with the water.
eThekwini spokesperson Msawakhe Mayisela said that the Umbilo Treatment Works was severely damaged during last year’s floods and noted that only 50% of the plant was operational.
“Consultants have been appointed to do assessments and redesign the damaged works. Once the design phase is complete, we will then start with the reconstruction phase of the works,” said Mayisela.
“The current overflows into the Umbilo River are a health hazard due to high levels of pathogens, like E. coli going into the river. Communities are advised not to use the water from the river and to avoid recreational activities in the river.”
Mayisela said that the municipality received a memo from the DA last weekend and that they will address and sort out the issues in due course.
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