Minister Pemmy Majodina intervenes decisively to restore safe and reliable water supply in Emfuleni

The Department of Water and Sanitation’s intervention in Emfuleni Local Municipality has registered significant progress in addressing the water and sanitation challenges in the municipality. This progress can be attributed to strong intergovernmental relations demonstrated by the department, Gauteng provincial government, Rand Water and Emfuleni Local Municipality.

There has been a persistent problem of sewage pollution in the Vaal River System and sewage spillages into communities in Emfuleni for a long time. Following a number of unsuccessful interventions to address the challenge, including interventions involving Ekurhuleni Water Care Company (ERWAT) and the South African National Defence Force, the department eventually invoked the Water Services Act Section 63 in 2021 to deal with the situation. The department appointed Rand Water as its implementing agent for this intervention.

The purpose of the department’s intervention was to eliminate the sewer spillages and to address sewer infrastructure challenges, including repair of sewer lines, repair and refurbishment of wastewater treatment works and upgrading of infrastructure. The department has registered significant progress following this intervention. This includes unblocking of blocked sewer lines, replacing collapsed sewer pipelines, refurbishment of pumpstations and existing wastewater treatment works, and assisting the municipality with tools of trade, including vehicles, tools and security.

The remaining work is to upgrade the capacity of the existing Waste Water Treatment Works, which currently do not have the capacity to handle the increased amount of sewage, which has resulted from population growth over the past few decades

The Department’s total estimated cost of the intervention is R7.6 billion, over a seven-year period, including for completion of the major capital works. This is for the upgrades of the four WWTW, which will require 3-5 years to complete based on the engineer’s estimation of the work. In addition, Rand Water has been assisting Emfuleni Local Municipality by, among other things, training of staff and procuring vehicles and equipment to carry out maintenance work.

It is also heartening to note that the refurbishment of four pump stations has been completed and are now fully functional. The department has also completed the replacement of fifty collapsed sewer lines in Emfuleni. As part of this work, two major projects were completed to replace and upgrade the main sewer pipeline from Rothdene pump station to Meyerton Waste Water Treatment Works, as well to replace the main sewer pipeline from pumpstation 8 to pumpstation 2. In addition,  a third project to replace the rising main sewer pipeline from pumpstation 2 to Leeukruil Waste Water Treatment Works is 90% complete.

As a result of these interventions incidents of sewage spillages into the community in Emfuleni have reduced markedly. Refurbishment of two of three Waste Water Treatment Works under Emfuleni LM is complete (Leeukuil and Rietspruit Waste Water Treatment Works). Refurbishment of the third Waste Water Treatment Works under Emfuleni LM (Sebokeng Waste Water Treatment Works) is approximately 50% complete. This has resulted in an improvement in the quality of the effluent from the Waste Water Treatment Works into the Vaal River. However, this improvement is limited by the fact that the Waste Water Treatment Works are overloaded, and the problem will only be fully addressed once the capacity of the Waste Water Treatment Works is upgraded.

We are hard at work to increase the capacity of waste water treatment works. The capacity of the Sebokeng Waste Water Treatment Works has been increased by 50 ML per day to 150 ML per day. Designs have been completed for a further 50 ML upgrade of Sebokeng Waste Water Treatment Works. Designs for the Rietspruit Waste Water Treatment Works (current capacity 36 ML per day). Designs have been completed to increase the capacity of the WWTW by 50 ML/day. The contractor is currently on-site. Designs have been completed to increase the capacity of the Leeukuil Waste Water Treatment Works by 15 ML/day from the current capacity of 36 ML per day. Work is expected to start anytime. Work is underway to increase the current capacity of the Meyerton Waste Water Treatment Works from 10ML per day to 25 ML/day.

As part of our overall intervention, a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPC) is in the process of being established to serve as the Water Service Provider in the municipality. The establishment of the SPV will result in a professionally managed, dedicated utility with full responsibility and accountability for the provision of water and sanitation services in Emfuleni. The department, Emfuleni Local Municipality and Rand Water are currently engaging National Treasury to obtain the required PFMA and MFMA approvals for the establishment of the SPV.

The department is satisfied that these interventions are delivering the desired results. We can boldly state, without any fear of contradiction, that, as a result of Minister’s decisive intervention, incidents of sewage spillages into the community in Emfuleni have been drastically reduced. Ongoing upgrading of the capacity of Waste Water Treatment Works is necessary to ensure that the problem is completely eliminated. The department will continue to fund Rand Water to complete the upgrades of the three Waste Water Treatment Works.

Upgrading of the Waste Water Treatment Works will also allow planned developments in the area to proceed which were partly undermined by the lack of capacity of the Waste Water Treatment Works to deal with additional sewage load.

The department believes that to sustain this momentum of progress, focused attention and energy must be directed towards fighting vandalism and theft of infrastructure and addressing the scourge of non-revenue water. In this regard, we acknowledge the positive role that communities and other sectors, through the political steering committee, continue to play as we intensify efforts to address the water and sewage challenges in the area.

For more information, contact:
Cornelius Monama
Ministerial Spokesperson
Cell: 083 271 0808
E-mail: monamac@dws.gov.za    

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