29-05-2025
Major progress in addressing Emfuleni water and sanitation challenges
The Emfuleni Local Municipality is making substantial strides in resolving its long-standing water and sanitation challenges, following decisive intervention by the Department of Water and Sanitation.
The Vaal River System and surrounding communities have for years suffered from the persistent problem of severe sewage pollution and spillages.
Despite several interventions by the Ekurhuleni Water Care Company (ERWAT) and the South African National Defence Force, the problem persisted.
In response, the Department of Water and Sanitation invoked Section 63 of the Water Services Act in 2021, and appointed Rand Water as its implementing agent, to address the situation.
According to the department, the intervention has already achieved significant milestones. These include unblocking and replacing collapsed sewer lines; refurbishment of pumpstations and existing wastewater treatment works; and assisting the municipality with essential operational tools of trade, including vehicles, and security.
The department said the remaining work is now on upgrading the capacity of existing Waste Water Treatment Works (WWTW), which are currently struggling to handle the increased amount of sewage due to population growth over the recent decades.
The department attributed the progress to strong intergovernmental relations, including Gauteng Provincial Government, Rand Water and Emfuleni Local Municipality.
The total estimated cost of the intervention is R7.6 billion over a seven-year period, including completion of the major capital works.
The department highlighted that the scope of work will include the upgrades of four WWTW, which will require 3-5 years to complete, based on the engineer's estimation of the work.
The scope of work includes upgrading four wastewater treatment facilities, Rietspruit, Leeukuil, Sebokeng, and Meyerton, an effort estimated to take three to five years to complete.
Rand Water has been assisting the municipality through staff training and procurement of vehicles and equipment to carry out maintenance work, among others.
The refurbishment of four pump stations has also been completed and are now fully functional. The replacement of 50 collapsed sewer lines have also been completed.
'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 eight to pumpstation two.
'In addition, a third project to replace the rising main sewer pipeline from pumpstation two to Leeukruil Waste Water Treatment Works, is 90% complete. Due to these interventions, the incidents of sewage spillages into the community in Emfuleni have reduced markedly,' the department said.
According to the department, this has resulted in an improvement in the quality of the effluent from the Waste Water Treatment Works into the Vaal River.
However, the department noted that this improvement is limited by the fact that the existing WWTW remain overloaded, and the problem will only be fully addressed, once the capacity of the treatment works is upgraded.
The department said it is hard at work to increase the capacity of waste water treatment works, noting that the capacity of 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), have been completed to increase the capacity of the WWTW by 50 ML/day. The contractor is currently on-site, [and] 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,' the department said, adding that work is expected to start anytime.'
Work is still 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 (SPV) is being established to serve as a dedicated Water Service Provider (WSP) In the municipality.
The establishment of the SPV aims to create a professionally managed, dedicated utility with full responsibility and accountability for the provision of water and sanitation services in Emfuleni.
Discussions between the department, Emfuleni Local Municipality and Rand Water, are currently underway with National Treasury to obtain the necessary Public Finance Management Act (PFMA) and Municipal Finance Management Act (MFMA) approvals for its establishment.
'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,' the department said.
To maintain momentum, the department believes that focused attention and energy must be directed towards fighting vandalism and theft of infrastructure and addressing the scourge of non-revenue water.
The department also acknowledged 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. –
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