“The ongoing pollution of wetlands by the City of Cape Town is a contravention of two national Acts and an international treaty” says Mark Rountree, a founding member of the South African Wetland Society and former Chairperson of the Western Cape Wetlands Forum. Rountree who is now the National Policy Officer for GOOD.
“I have been disappointed at the Western Cape Minister Bredell’s inability to address pollution in the Diep River over the last two years. When the latest wetland pollution incidents were reported to me, GOOD requested assistance to protect the wetlands directly from the National Department of Forestry, Fisheries and Environment (DFFE) and the National Department of Water and Sanitation (DWS)” said Rountree. “We have not been disappointed with the speed of the response.”
GOOD reported the latest pollution incidents to both National Departments on the 7th July 2021. The DFFE’s Green Scorpions visited the affected Ramsar wetlands 2 days later and DWS has, on Friday, confirmed that their own investigations have resulted in administrative action being initiated by DWS against the City of Cape Town for the pollution transgressions.
Mr Mashudu Murovhi, the National Department of Water and Sanitation’s Director of Western Cape Provincial Operations, wrote to Mr Rountree on the 30th July confirming that DWS is investigating the ongoing pollution of the wetlands and river and that DWS “has taken administrative enforcement against the City of Cape Town (City), and is in the process of ensuring that the City improves its compliance with relevant water use licence(s) conditions as well as technical requirements relating to its management of some of its infrastructure.”
In addition, DWS “along with the City and the Department of Environmental Affairs and Development Planning (DEA&DP) have formed a Potsdam WWTW / Diep River pollution monitoring Task Team to attempt to reduce the increased pollution (incidents) from re-occurring.”
Mr Murovhi confirmed that the Task Team will be active “until improvement of related rivers and infrastructures are noted and effectively managed.”
“Wetlands are amongst the most at risk ecosystems in the world. Cape Town has many famous wetlands and estuaries, some – such as the RAMSAR wetlands in the False Bay Nature Reserve – are designated as wetlands of international importance” says Rountree. Estuaries are critical environments because, aside from the recreational use in our cities, estuaries are the environments where many commercially valuable fish species breed. “Without healthy estuaries, the fisheries would collapse.”
Cape Town’s latest Inland Water Quality Report summary notes rapidly worsening water quality in the Diep River, Southern Peninsula, Soet River, Sir Lowry’s Pass and Salt River systems in 2019 as compared with the preceding 2015-2018 period. “GOOD hopes that the efforts of DFFE and DWS may encourage Xanthea Limberg to improve the water quality back to and above the improvements that are recorded during Patricia de Lille’s last term.”
