As concerns mount that load shedding will result in water cuts and sewage problems, the City of Cape Town is pushing to ensure that its water and waste treatment plants are exempt from Eskom’s crippling blackouts.
The Mother City currently has 26 waste water treatment plants (WWTP) and 17 water treatment plants (WTP).
Faure is the largest WTP, and was recently affected by load shedding, which resulted in water discolouration due to “process control fault” at the plant.
“This cannot be augmented by generator capacity due to high energy demand,“ the City said at the time.
After this, the City wrote to Eskom asking for an exemption for the Faure WTP. This request was declined.
“The centrifuge (used to separate particles suspended in a liquid) is very power-hungry, and we can't run it with a backup generator,” a reliable source told Weekend Argus.
In its letter to the City, seen by Weekend Argus, Eskom said: “All customers should participate equitably in load shedding at all times ... The standard is clear on critical loads that might be exempted, and your request does not meet the requirements as this will allow other customers to benefit from this exclusion.”
Eskom Western Cape’s spokesperson Kyle Cookson confirmed the authenticity of the letter.
But the City now said it would apply again.
Cape Town mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis said it was imperative for its water treatment plants to be exempted from blackouts.
“They are too energy intensive to be run on generators, so parts of them have to shut down,” Hill-Lewis said.
“We are not applying for all of them ... Eskom would never approve that. And anyway, we don’t need all of them.”
He said they just need enough to secure supply and keep the system running.
“Faure is important to us because it also helps create more capacity at Steenbras and supplies a large part of the metro South East, like Khayelitsha, Strand, Macassar and so on.”
Hill-Lewis said they would “re-motivate” its request for the exemption of Faure.
Another plant the City is pushing for an exemption is the Potsdam WWTP.
The effects of load shedding on the Potsdam plant have been fingered as a contributor to the sewage spills at the Milnerton Lagoon.
The decaying conditions at the lagoon has left residents living with a faecal stench after sewage spills.
According to insiders at the City, some smaller sewer pump stations have since been fitted with early warning alarm systems as a precaution due to the possibility of sewage overflow when load shedding strikes.
Acting Mayco member for Water and Sanitation, Siseko Mbandezi, said load shedding’s impact on water treatment plants were massive.
“We can’t interrupt the work of the plants. It’s working on a 24 hour cycle,” Mbandezi told Weekend Argus, adding that they now rely on generators.
“We got to do what we got to do,” he said when asked what the cost implications of these generators have on the City.
“Last month, we pumped over 400 000 litres of diesel in our diesel storage facility.”
He said while he didn’t have the cost breakdown at hand, but seeing that a litre of diesel last month cost R23.96, the reserves they bought should have cost close to R9.6 million.
The City’s water and sanitation department said prolonged load shedding had a detrimental effect on the City’s operations.
“This is why we are pushing with such urgency to reduce our reliance on Eskom, lower the cost of electricity, and end load-shedding in Cape Town,” read their statement.
The Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse’s (Outa) Dr Ferrial Adam said: “It’s poor planning and lack of back power at water treatment plants.”
Lobby group Stop CoCT’s Sandra Dickson said as long as the plants work, residents will be happy.
“If they’re using generators or ask Eskom to intervene, it really doesn’t matter,” Dickson said.
This week, New Somerset, Mitchells Plain, Karl Bremer, Victoria and George hospitals were added to the list of hospitals in the province that are exempt from load shedding.
This brings the total number of exempted hospitals in the province to eight, including Red Cross, Tygerberg and Groote Schuur hospitals.
The announcement followed a briefing by Western Cape MEC for Health and Wellness, Nomafrench Mbombo, who called for 19 hospitals to be shielded from power cuts after Health Minister, Dr Joe Phaahla called on provinces to supply a list of facilities in need of exemption.
Weekend Argus.