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After denying allegations of sewage entering the Seekoei Estuary for many years, the Kouga Municipality has finally admitted to high levels of e-coli – which is no surprise to the residents who were aware of the state of the estuary and have continued to raise their concerns.
As previously reported, community leader and founding director of non-profit organisation, Masikhathalelaneni, Freddie van Rooyen, alleged that untreated wastewater from the Jeffreys Bay Waste Water Treatment had been allowed to travel through the Swart River to the Seekoei Estuary and onto the Aston Bay Beach.
After making this discovery in 2019, he reported the matter to the Department of Water and Sanitation and opened a criminal case against the municipality.
Unfortunately, no changes were made, and the issue continued to persist.
In February this year residents in Aston Bay and Paradise Beach were left frustrated by the foul smell from the Seekoei Estuary, which left them feeling sick.
Commenting on these allegations, former Kouga executive mayor, Horatio Hendricks, denied all allegations of deliberately dumping raw sewage into the Seekoei Estuary.
At the time he said that the offensive smell in the area around the estuary was not from raw sewage, but from a natural process called eutrophication which resulted in dead zones, fish kill and algae bloom, with its characteristic extremely unpleasant smell.
In a surprise turn of events, on July 24, the municipality released a statement informing residents that it was closing the Seekoei Estuary for swimming and fishing until further notice.
Kouga executive mayor, Hattingh Bornman, said that while the mouth side of the estuary tested clean, the reserve side indicated unacceptable levels of e-coli.
“The Seekoei Estuary has not functioned naturally for a while, due to anthropogenic (human) activities that have led to the alteration of the natural ecological function of the estuary,” said Bornman.
Furthermore, Bornman said that both the Jeffreys Bay and Humansdorp Waste Water Treatment Works (WWTW) were not functioning optimally.
He said that they were doing everything in their power to rectify the problem as quickly as possible.
Bornman said that the closure of the Seekoei Estuary was a necessary precautionary safety measure, which must be taken until the quality of the water has improved to satisfactory levels.
Van Rooyen said that he was not surprised by Bornman’s admission of there being sewage in the Seekoei Estuary, because he, as well as other residents in the area, was aware of the issue that has continued to persist for many years.
He said that if the current mayor, who was the former deputy mayor, did not know about the issue of sewage in the Seekoei Estuary, then the municipality was not hands-on in dealing with the issue over the last few years.
“The municipality has publicly denied that there is sewage in the Seekoei Estuary for years, but it comes to no surprise to me,” said Van Rooyen.
“I have been accused of misleading people but now the municipality is admitting to what I have been saying since 2019.”
Van Rooyen said that he was concerned about the residents’ health, especially those who swam in the Seekoei Estuary.
He further said that despite the admission of high e-coli readings in the Seekoei Estuary, the municipality has still not released the readings to the public, which he has requested on multiple occasions.
In addition to releasing the e-coli readings, Van Rooyen said that he hopes to receive clarity as to how one side of the Seekoei Estuary had high levels e-coli, while the other side did not.
“How is it possible that in a free-flowing body of water there is e-coli on the one side but not throughout the Seekoei Estuary? The municipality needs to prove this by releasing the e-coli readings,” said Van Rooyen.
He said that the Humansdorp Waste Water Treatment Works has allegedly not been operating since 2016, and he would therefore like the municipality to be more transparent with the public, especially regarding the financial aspect of the Waste Water Treatment Works and why they have not been functioning at full capacity.
“It is good that the municipality has admitted to sewage being present in the Seekoei Estuary, but unfortunately the damage is irreversible,” said Van Rooyen.
“To make matters worse, due to the recent heavy rain the water from the Seekoei Estuary has been pushed onto the Aston Bay Beach.”
As part of the municipality’s plan of action, Bornman said that although the Jeffreys Bay WWTW is functioning well – after spending an estimated R1.5 million on upgrades since January this year – the constant loadshedding has caused strain on its performance. Thus, a generator will be installed on site.
He further said that the initiation of the R42 million MIG project will see the upgrade of the Humansdorp WWTW, upon which the whole site will be revamped as the consultant and contractor progresses.
Bornman said that a section of the car park close to the mouth of the Estuary would be removed to ensure the natural flow of the estuary and the Estuary Management Committee and Plan would be revived.
In addition, he said that possible sewage spills from private households would be a high priority and would be monitored while bi-weekly tests on the quality of the water would be conducted and published.
“The health and safety of our residents and visitors are our first priority,” said Bornman.
“Regular updates will be communicated to keep residents informed.”
At the time of going to print, the Kouga Express did not receive any feedback from the municipality as to why its previous statement denying allegations of sewage entering the Estuary has changed.
