KNYSNA NEWS - Among the matters of interest that served on the agenda of a mayoral committee meeting on July 27 was a planning and development report entitled “Knysna estuary water quality concerns and possible solutions presentation”.
The opening paragraph states, “The ecological integrity of the Knysna estuary is threatened by poor water quality (with high nutrient and bacteriological loads) as a result of polluted stormwater inflows and discharge from the waste water treatment works (WWTW).
The high nutrient loads within the Ashmead channel have led to an extensive nuisance algal bloom which results in the loss of essential estuarine habitat, while continuously high bacteriological contamination of stormwater inflows into the estuary threatens the health of those that use it. In addition, the quality of the final effluent that enters the estuary from the WWTW has been noncompliant in terms of the plant’s water use licence since at least 2013.”
The proposal to deal with this situation is that the Knysna Basin Project together with the UCT civil engineering department set up a modelling project for the Knysna estuary and surrounding catchment, which will run for 12 months, and on the agenda the recommendation is that the funds needed for this modelling project be allocated in the next budget.
The wording of the report is extremely concerning as is the fact that if there is an active health risk, the municipality should surely have advised the public of this. If the situation is as bad as the first paragraph indicates, the question arises whether a delay of 12 months for a study is a practical approach to find a solution.
Questions to the municipality as to the seriousness of the issue, the existence of an actual health risk and how the WWTW can be noncompliant after the extensive work done on it by Aurecon, have remained unanswered.
As soon as further information on this issue is received we shall convey it to our readers.
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