The City’s mayoral advisory committee on water quality and wetlands on a boat tour of its coastal marine outfall in Green Point. Picture: Ayanda Ndamane/ Independent Newspapers
The City has received more than 2 000 public comments and submissions in the public participation process relating to marine outfalls and wastewater treatment permits.
Some 2 063 submissions were received on the City’s website during the 60-day public participation period, which concluded on November 21.
This was after Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment (DFFE) Minister Barbara Creecy earlier this year reversed a permit the City was granted, saying the public participation process previously conducted by the City was “inadequate, outdated and should be redone”.
“The City of Cape Town’s Water and Sanitation Directorate appreciates the active citizenry of all those who submitted written comments through the City’s ‘Have Your Say’ platforms, about the marine outfalls discharge permits and wastewater treatment works in Mitchells Plain, Simon’s Town, Miller’s Point, Oudekraal and Llandudno,” the City said in a statement.
Mayco member for water and sanitation Zahid Badroodien said: “Thank you to all residents and stakeholders who responded to the call for comment and participated in these important discussions through the appropriate channels.”
The City is now collating the inputs received in preparation for a response to the permit applications for the Hout Bay, Green Point and Camps Bay marine outfalls, as well as the wastewater treatment works.
“Both the public comments and the City’s responses will be submitted to DFFE for its decision on the applications,” said Badroodien.
In a letter to Creecy last month, ActionSA provincial chairperson Michelle Wasserman appealed against the issuing of permits, which she said authorised the continued discharge of untreated sewage into Marine Protected Areas in Cape Town at Camps Bay, Green Point, and Hout Bay.
They called for Creecy to issue permits which include the requirement that the City “must treat the effluent released via the outfall pipelines at Camps Bay, Green Point and Hout Bay to a tertiary treatment level, which must be operational within three years” and that Creecy establish a permit advisory forum made up of independent experts who have access to all necessary information and who report directly to the minister on the City’s compliance with permit conditions and on progress with regard to the implementation of a system which treats the effluent to a tertiary level.
Cape Times