Ministry confirms no restriction on amount of sewage Cape Town may pump out to sea
Clarity given after City’s claim that it is still limited by historic licence conditions
A hiker walks along Chapman’s Peak Drive overlooking Hout Bay. In October the City of Cape Town pumped an average of 6.8-million litres per day of sewage into Hout Bay, after the limit of 5-million litres per day was suspended by the national environment minister. Archive photo: Ashraf Hendricks
The suspension of quantity limits for sewage pumped out to sea by the City of Cape Town, as stated by the Minister of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment earlier this year, has been clarified following the City’s claim that historic limits are still in force.
On Monday GroundUp reported that, pending appeals to the Coastal Waters Discharge Permits granted for the marine sewage outfalls in Green Point, Camps Bay and Hout Bay, Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment (DFFE) Minister Dion George lifted the restriction on the volume of sewage the City may pump through these outfalls.
Subsequently, in a letter to GroundUp, which has also been widely distributed, the City Media Office stated the previous 20-year licences for the outfalls granted in 2011 under the National Water Act continue to apply to discharge volumes at the outfalls until the appeals to the new permits granted under the Integrated Coastal Management Act were finalised.
Accordingly, the City requested GroundUp correct the headline and body of the article, claiming it was “factually incorrect”.
But DFFE communication and advocacy chief director Peter Mbelengwa on Wednesday stated the old 20-year licences issued by the Department of Water and Sanitation “are no longer applicable”, having “been superseded by the Coastal Waters Discharge Permits issued to the City in respect of the three outfalls”.
“It must be noted that the three coastal waters discharge permits issued to the City in respect of the Green Point, Camps Bay and Hout Bay outfalls continue to be in force with only one condition having been suspended by the Minister pending the outcome of the appeal – the condition relating to effluent discharge volumes,” stated Mbelengwa.
He said the minister did not state the City must instead comply with the discharge limits set by the “outdated water use licences” and the volumes had therefore “been suspended in their entirety pending the outcome of the appeals”.
However, Mbelengwa did state the City’s discharge volumes over the last three months remained within the limits of the old licences, although they were exceeded once at Green Point and four times at Hout Bay during the “peak wet weather season”.
The City’s media department sent GroundUp an email that reached us shortly after this article was published stating it was the “legal position of the City that the Water Act Licence provisions for volumes currently apply … regardless of whether the Minister expressly stated this”.
Not really limits anyway
Even if the City claims were correct and the 20-year licence limits kicked in, we calculated that the limits have no practical value.
In October the City, on average, pumped:
- 25.7-million litres per day for Green Point,
- 6.8-million litres per day for Hout Bay, and
- 2.2-million litres per day for Camps Bay.
According to the City, under the National Water Act’s 20-year licence the default limits are:
- 44-million litres per day for Green Point,
- 10.8-million litres per day for Hout Bay, and
- 5.5-million litres per day for Camps Bay.
Cape Town’s population growth in these areas would have to increase by 60% before these became relevant. Moreover these limits exceed the design capacity of the outfalls. They are consequently of no practical relevance.
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