Update

KNYSNA NEWS - The Garden Route District Municipality has asked the provincial Department of Forestry and the Environment to issue a directive, in terms of the National Environmental Management Act (NEMA), to the Knysna municipality, ordering it to bring an end to the ongoing sewage leaks in the town as soon as possible.

The head of the GRDM's disaster section, Gerhard Otto, said, in his capacity as acting manager of community services, that as the monitoring authority, the district municipality had found "there's been no solving of the problem (of sewage leaks) in Knysna".

Held accountable

Once the provincial department had issued the directive to the Knysna municipality, the municipal manager could be held accountable if remedial action was not taken.

"He can be fined, in his personal capacity, in terms of the (NEMA) legislation," Otto said.

The Knysna office of GRDM's environmental health section - which fell under community services - had sent the Knysna municipality numerous letters urging it to prevent the continuation of sewage leaks, and had sent the municipality photographs of sewage overflows at various sites.

In addition, Otto said, the Knysna office had asked provincial government engineers from Cape Town to provide assistance.

Dion George

GRDM's action follows the escalation of the sewage problem to Dion George, the Minister of Environment, Forestry and Fisheries, and to the Western Cape government, by Knysna councillor Peter Bester.

On 22 August the Knysna-Plett Herald reported that a sewage rivulet, formed by an overflowing sewerage manhole at the garden refuse dump site in Upper Old Place, ran down a slope in the direction of the Knysna Estuary, and that sewage from another overflowing manhole in Upper Old Place entered a rivulet flowing beneath Old Toll Road and alongside Bokmakierie Street, then eventually under George Rex Drive into the estuary.

On that day, it was also reported that sewage flowed from a broken pipe attached to a sewerage manhole in Hlalani, which the owner of a home said had resulted in her yard being flooded by sewage.

Sewage from a manhole on the Knysna High School sport fields, alongside Trotter Street. The sewage in the trench entered the Knysna Estuary.

'Still overflowing'

According to the DA chair of ward 10, Zelma Matthee, on Friday 27 September the manhole at the garden refuse dump site was still overflowing, and on Monday 30 September, sewage was still entering the rivulet above Old Toll Road, and sewage was still flowing from the broken pipe in Hlalani.

On 26 September the newspaper reported on a sewage rivulet near Calender Street, Hornlee, that was bringing great distress to a woman and her neighbours.

For four months, the woman and her son (15), had had to cross the rivulet, about 2m from their front door, to get to work and school.

The woman said the sewage, from an overflowing manhole, had caused her son to experience difficulty in breathing, she had "started to get ill", and she had "fallen a few times" on slippery ground alongside the rivulet.

On Monday 30 September, she said despite numerous pleas to the municipality to stop the overflow, nothing had been done.

The municipality was asked for comment on the overflows in Upper Old Place, the pipe leak in Hlalani, and the situation in Hornlee.

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