Sewage system bursting at the seams

Last week Northern News accompanied DA councillor, Beyers Smit, on a tour to every infected area in and around Mokopane. Seweage water is being flushed into every river mentioned.
In the RDP-area several septic pools have formed between houses and in open fields as the sewage system overflows.
“Our purification ponds are at full capacity and because of this the waste is pushed or flushed through to rivers in and around Mokopane. This raw waste can lead to serious pollution of water being used by communities downstream from Mokopane,” said Smit.
Northern News spoke to Mogalakwena municipal manager, William Kekana, and his technical manager, Thaso Mogashoa, who said they were aware of the problems and that plans are in place to salvage the situation.
Mogashoa said the problem is two-fold. Firstly the development of RDP area’s  19, 20 and 14 without expanding sewage treatment capacity brought the system under tremendous pressure. “The current system was never developed to be used by so many people,” he explained.
The problem is exacerbated by people who flush all sorts of material down the system from trousers to newspapers. Kekana said the municipality hopes to involve the DA in a campaign to educate people in these areas as to what can and cannot be flushed down toilets.
To address the challenge of the overloaded system, Kekana said mining houses are already competing for rights to Mogalakwena’s treated sewage water. “The winning bid here will be responsible for building three modern sewage treatment plants.”
Two of these plants will most likely be built in the Sekgagapeng area and the third will be in the vicinity of the current works.
In the meantime, the municipality will contain it’s effluent by using the two new sewage dams they built, by pumping all treated sewerage into this new dams and then repairing leaks in the old purification ponds.
In response to the photo that appeared on the front page of last week’s Northern News, AfriForm contacted the paper saying they would like to help with the town’s sewage problem.
Tiaan Esterhuyzen, the Limpopo Organizer of AfriForm said the organisation will be opening a branch in Mokopane on March 22. They will then test water samples and request an action plan from the Mogalakwena municipality. “If the problem is not addressed, we will take legal action on the matter,” he said.
Kekana, however, promised residents will see a difference within the next month.