Cape Town - Hout Bay residents are up in arms over the possibility of even more effluent entering the ocean there should a marine outfalls permit be granted by the City and the Department of Fisheries, Forestry and Environment (DFFE).
The City said that it had submitted its report on the recent 60-day public participation regarding the outfall permits to DFFE Minister Barbara Creecy.
The report includes a summary of the public participation process, inputs received, and the full set of comments made on outfalls.
The permit for the release of sewage through the Hout Bay marine outfall was granted by Creecy in 2019, while permits for the Green Point and Camps Bay outfalls were granted in December 2022 and January 2023, respectively.
The public participation processes were conducted in Camps Bay, Hout Bay and Green Point, and a total of 1 979 comments were received.
The report noted that Hout Bay stood out as the area with the highest comparative number of environmental impact comments.
“With 33% of comments in total, concerns follow the same trend as other areas outside of environmental protection calls.
“In workshop sessions and comments, it was noted that the quality of the water exiting the Disa River in close proximity to the outfall zone requires study as a high pollutant source.
“This is an outlier in terms of the perception of water quality and the methodology required to respond if the measurement of water quality in the bay becomes a permit adherence metric.”
Jackie Whales, Friends of the Rivers of Hout Bay chairperson, said while various options were explored, they would not support extending the marine outfall further out to sea.
“I understand that wastewater treatment works are very expensive, but treating the effluent on land to an acceptable quality and then discharging it is the only option.
“Anything else will cause more costs later.
“Perhaps package plants that can be expanded later are the best option.
“I would like to encourage the City to be brave and do the right thing,” said Whales.
Roscoe Jacobs, Hout Bay Human Rights Activist, said there was a great need for better engagement with residents around the issue.
“I think that when it comes to public participation, government departments need to move away from the ‘ticking the box process’, and they actually need to engage the community.
“Has anyone wondered what the actual impact of this is in terms of the fishing industry?
“For years, our community has been dependent on the fishing industry.
“I think the other concern is how the department and other people that are in charge of stakeholder engagement are just about ticking the boxes and not about actual community participation, because these processes aren’t communicated properly to communities,” said Jacobs.
Water and sanitation Mayco member Zahid Badroodien said that Creecy would consider the public participation inputs when considering appeals against permits for the City’s marine outfalls.
He said that the City was making investments to improve wastewater treatment and upgrade sewers, to the benefit of inland and coastal water quality, with a 226% increase in the overall infrastructure budget, from R2.3bn in 2022/23 to R7.8bn in 2025/26.
“The City is further sharing sampling data with the DFFE covering the range of constituents listed in the current outfall permits, and is engaging the minister to align the permit outfall volumes to the design capacity of the outfalls in the current appeals determination process.
“In total, 95% of Cape Town’s wastewater is discharged from wastewater treatment works, compared to 5% from the three outfalls.
“Coastal outfalls are a global practice, which is guided by local engineering and environmental pollution legislation and guidelines.”