The Sunday News
BULAWAYO City Council has been fingered as the city’s biggest polluter with the local authority’s obsolete and malfunctioning sewerage system said to be continuously discharging untreated effluent into the city’s water bodies and environment.
Environmental Management Agency (EMA) provincial manager for Bulawayo, Mr Decent Ndlovu said failure by the local authority to regularly collect refuse in residential areas had also led to the emergence of numerous illegal dumps around the city.
Mr Ndlovu, who was speaking after a tour of the city’s environmental hot spots with journalists and city council officials last week, urged the local authority to expeditiously upgrade its sewerage system to curb the continued discharge of toxins into water bodies.
He blamed the pollution of Umguza River on the local authority, saying recurrent breakdown of the city’s sewage treatment plant had seen a lot of toxins being discharged into the sewerage by various companies.
Earlier this year, farmers dependent on Umguza River and water sources near the river, were ordered by EMA to stop using the water source for their agricultural activities while boreholes next to the river were also sealed.
This followed the discovery that the water contained high levels of metals and other pollutants that can cause chronic illnesses.
Sometime in 2012, Bulawayo City Council was fined $5 000, while a number of companies were fined up to $1 000 for environmental crimes that resulted in the pollution of Umguza River.
“It’s no secret that Bulawayo City Council is the biggest polluter. Their sewerage system is malfunctioning and there are regular bursts of sewer pipes, which have seen raw effluent being discharged into the environment. A number of water bodies in the city are contaminated as a result.
“A lot of companies are also guilty of discharging untreated waste into the city’s sewerage; waste which then finds its way into water bodies that feed into Umguza River. A lot of people who live down stream and depend on the river as a water source face serious health threats.
“As such, we call on the local authority to increase its pace in refurbishing the system to curb the continued discharge of effluent into the environment,” he said.
Mr Ndlovu said EMA has in the past fined and issued orders against the local authority, but has since taken a new approach of engagement which he said promises to yield better results.
He acknowledged the progress made by the local authority so far in upgrading it’s sewerage.
“They have their challenges and we recognise the effort they are putting to rescue the situation. In the past we have fined them (city council), issued orders but now we are working together in trying to make sure that we reduce toxins that are being discharged into the environment.
“They are trying to comply with our orders and we hope to end this pollution soon,” he said.
Mr Ndlovu said EMA, in efforts to reduce pollution of water bodies in the city, had also raided and issued orders against a number of companies in the city who were responsible for discharging untreated waste into the city’s sewerage.
He said most companies which were operating without waste treatment plants have been given ultimatums to set up the plants which will see them processing their waste before discharging it into the city’s system.
Among some of the companies that were issued with orders are, abattoirs and 58 fuel service stations that were operating without oil interceptors and treatment plants.
“We have asked these service stations to have oil interceptors which prevent the oil from being washed away into water bodies. We have also ordered them to have treatment plants, which will separate water from the oil. We have also visited abattoirs around the city and ordered them to have waste treatment plants to treat their waste before discharging it into the city council’s system.
“If waste if treated at the source, it makes waste management easy and that is our thrust as EMA,” he said.
Meanwhile, Bulawayo City Council says the $12 million it secured will go a long way in refurbishing the city’s sewerage system into an efficient one.
BCC senior public relations officer, Mrs Nesisa Mpofu said the local authority had made significant progress in upgrading it’s sewerage treatment plant.
“We have completed rehabilitation of Aisleby Number 3, we have desludged Magwegwe ponds and construction of a pump house has been completed. 9 508 chokes that were reported have been attended to and 96 outstanding ones are being attended to. A total of 174 out of 220 sand traps have been cleaned and cleared city wide. 301 manhole to manhole sections have been done and a total of 152 manhole lids have been replaced city wide.
“The impact of all this has been a significant reduction in sewerage blockages and health hazards,” she said.
The local authority is also in the process of replacing collapsed concrete sewer pipes around the city with more durable glass reinforced pipes.
