Durban - Court papers, filed in response to legal action brought by ActionSA, have revealed that the Mahatma Gandhi Pump Station – the largest sewage pump station in the eThekwini Municipality – pumps millions of litres of untreated sewage into the ocean each time it breaks down.
This is according to an answering affidavit filed on behalf of the Minister of Environment, Forestry and Fisheries Barbara Creecy.
The affidavit, deposed by Devinagie Bendeman, acting director-general in the national Department of Environment, Forestry and Fisheries, said there was a persistent problem with the pump station.
The issue dates back several years and the pump station was just one of the marine outfalls that discharged effluent during infrastructure failure or heavy rains.
The court action was launched by ActionSA against the eThekwini Municipality and several other government departments to hold them accountable for the sewage pollution of Durban waterways and the coastline.
According to the affidavit, the Mahatma Gandhi Pump Station has a throughput of millions of litres an hour which is pumped to the Central Works Wastewater Treatment Plant.
“When the pump station breaks down, the inflow to the station is diverted to three storm-water discharge points, including the Lavender Creek storm-water drain from which it enters coastal waters,” said the affidavit.
It said that the breakdowns at the pump station had occurred since 2017, but had appeared to get more frequent after the April floods last year.
As a result, in November 2021, a coastal protection notice was issued which called on the municipality to immediately stop the illegal discharge and pollution due to the breakdown at the station.
Despite the municipality committing to address the problems, the instructions that were contained in the notice had not yet been fully complied with, it said.
The court papers said the resultant discharge due to the breakdowns at the station had resulted in “widespread pollution of coastal waters at the Durban Harbour”.
“Historically, water quality sampling has shown severe pollution across Durban harbour due to the massive inflows of raw sewage during such incidents.”
Regarding the impact on businesses, it said retail spaces and restaurants located within close proximity to the overflow discharge points had been affected by the stench and unhygienic conditions.
“This has crippled trade and patrons have instead chosen to stay away as a direct result of this. Some of these retail establishments have had to close, and this has resulted in losses and unemployment,” it said.
Transnet, the papers revealed, had also reported to the department that the impact of these sewage overflows had been detrimental to its operations.
For example, the court papers said, diving, which was an important function for ship-re- pair activities at the Durban Harbour, had to be banned at one point because of the water-quality problems.
“This has had a severe and prejudicial impact on the ship repair industry which forms an integral component of revenue generation for Transnet.
“Because of this pollution, vessel owners now prefer to utilise ports out- side of South Africa for these repair services,” it said.
The affidavit said this ongoing problem had also resulted in “significant environmental damage with considerable damage to marine life and marine habitats”.
It said the municipality obtained a specialist report indicating that there were certain design flaws in the Mahatma Gandhi Station that the municipality had undertaken to attend to.
Regarding the non-compliance with the coastal protection notice, the affidavit stated that the department had commenced criminal action and also sought legal opinion.
It said as the legal opinion recommended that the department approach the court to enforce compliance by the City, steps were being taken, however the ActionSA application was then filed.
EThekwini Municipality spokesperson Msawakhe Mayisela said they would not comment as it wanted to let due process unfold as the matter is in court.
“The City is very proud of the strides that it has made so far to fix sanitation infrastructure that was damaged by two consecutive floods that hit the city last year,” he said.