Residents are reminded to log sewer overflows immediately using one of the City’s official reporting channels, such as WhatsApp and the City’s website, so it can be resolved in the shortest possible time. This includes reporting incidents during high, prolonged stages of load-shedding where there could be sewer spills and overflows, despite the City’s contingency measures, as well as heavy rains.
The City’s Water and Sanitation team is encouraging residents to report sewer overflows and spills so they can be attended to in the shortest time possible.
‘We need the community to help be our eyes and ears on the ground to report sewer overflows so they can be addressed. With WhatsApp and the online portal, reporting these incidents is only a couple of clicks away. This makes it more convenient for residents, who can also upload photographs to help explain or provide context to their service request,’ said the City’s Mayoral Committee Member for Water and Sanitation, Councillor Zahid Badroodien.
For context, the City’s sewer pump stations need electricity to function effectively and convey sewage to Wastewater Treatment Works (WWTWS) where it can be treated.
‘Unfortunately, with high, prolonged stages of load-shedding, there could be sewer spills and overflows, despite the City’s contingency measures. An added challenge is the dumping of inappropriate material in the sewer system, which leads to blockages.
‘Where sustained high stages of load-shedding and illegal dumping impact on City sewer pump stations and related infrastructure, we immediately act according to the standing sewage spill protocol to facilitate a well-coordinated, swift and efficient response across various City departments. This includes taking immediate action to do repairs and contain the impact, where applicable.
‘Also during wet weather, rain water, which also washes illegally dumped items, can both enter our sewer network via broken or missing manhole covers. This adds to the wastewater flowing through the pipes and places more strain on the system. To help ease the load, residents also need to ensure that their stormwater downpipes are not connected to the sewer gullies or infrastructure on their properties.
‘The City is also on track to proactively jet-clean 200 kilometres of sewer pipeline ahead of the winter season, with over 190km of pipeline already complete.
‘Residents are also reminded there are some instances, the teams may not be able to respond to service requests as soon as they would like to due to factors such as safety concerns and the need to arrange security to escort them. In such cases, residents are assured the teams will be deployed to clear sewer blockages as soon as it is safe and possible to do so.
‘Also, especially during winter, there tends to be an influx of complaints due to heavy rains entering the sewer network and in some cases overflowing stormwater systems, which may also lead to teams taking longer than usual to respond. In some cases, residents may also log blocked stormwater drains as sewer overflows, and vice versa, which also has an impact on the response times,’ said Councillor Badroodien.
As a means to reduce the impact of load-shedding:
Permanent generators have been fitted at all wastewater treatment plants which keeps priority treatment processes active. Larger priority sewer pump stations are fitted with permanent generators as a measure to increase the resilience of sanitation supply systems. Maintenance staff are on standby and will use contingency measures such as mobile pumps and sewer suction tankers to reduce overflows. All pump stations are fitted with telemetry to help monitor the sump levels of the facilities. The City continues to monitor operations at all our sewer pump stations, and particularly according to the load-shedding schedule.
Residents can help prevent sewer overflows. Whatever you flush down your toilet or pour down kitchen and bathroom sinks and drains, goes into the sewer pipes and is carried to pump stations and ultimately to the WWTWs where wastewater/ sewage is treated. Waste such as rags, fats and oils, rubble, litter, diapers, etc is also dumped illegally into the sewer network via sewer drains, where covers are broken or stolen (acts of vandalism) and this blocks the pipes and damages pump stations, causing sewer overflows.
Residents can also play an active role in reporting acts of abuse and vandalism of sewer infrastructure as and when they see it happens. It will definitely create severe inconvenience to them and their immediate environment as well as the waterways in close proximity to the resultant overflows. The sooner they report it the sooner it can be attended to because delays result in an accumulation effect which could in turn result in more complex, time consuming and costly operations to remedy the situation especially during the extended hours of load-shedding. This makes for a very frustrating exercise for everyone involved and affected.
What residents can do to help sanitation services:
Don’t flush anything other than human waste and toilet paper. See www.capetown.gov.za/blocked-sewers. Use the City’s solid waste services provided to get rid of your waste, not drains. Waste that gets into the sewer pipes will block it and put strain on and damage the infrastructure related to the conveyance and treatment of sewage across the City such as pump stations and WWTWs which are very costly to repair. Check for illegal stormwater-to-sewer cross-connections on properties, where rainwater is channelled from roofs, gutters, and paved or hard yard surface areas into sewer drains. Ingress of rainwater and items such as litter, material, builders’ rubble, fats, and sanitary ware, cause sewers to overflow especially when it rains. Report sewer blockages and overflows so they can be cleared in a reasonable timeframe, given the current power situation. Report vandalism to the sewage reticulation system. Where can I log water and sanitation service requests?
Report blocked sewers, pump station failures, vandalism to the sewage reticulation infrastructure and sewage overflows using one of the following channels (Please provide the street address, and get a reference number):
WhatsApp 060 018 1505 Online: www.capetown.gov.za/servicerequests Email water@capetown.gov.za SMS 31373 (maximum 160 characters. Standard rates apply) Call 0860 103 089 Visit a City walk-in centre (see www.capetown.gov.za/facilities to find the one closest to you)
Note: You can submit photographs of the incident via WhatsApp, online and email.
Published by: City of Cape Town, Media Office
www.capetown.gov.za/Media-and-news/Report%20sewer%20overflows-%20WhatsApp%20and%20online%20options%20also%20available