Pretoria- The Department of Water and Sanitation has disputed reports that the Vaal Dam is currently being turned into a sewerage settlement dam and that there is no raw sewage dumped into the dam.
Speaking to IOL, the department’s spokesperson Sputnik Ratau admitted that they had challenges which led the department to have a meeting with the community of Deneysville where they addressed the pollution of the Integrated Vaal River System.
“There are sewage spillages in Deneysville and other towns in the catchment of the Vaal Dam because of Wastewater Treatment Works (WWTW) not operating properly.”
He admitted that Deneysville WWTW has not been operating optimally for a while, he said this was mainly due to a lack of operation and maintenance over time, as well as a growing demand that the works could not satisfy.
To fix this issue, Ratau said different structures in the department have come together to address the challenges and they will ensure that the WWTW returns to its fully operational condition.
“The new WWTW is designed to provide effluent compliant to the special standards set by the department for effluent discharged to a water course. The project upon completion will improve the overall water quality in the sense that the effluent will be treated to a high standard, which will improve the quality of the water abstracted by downstream users for treatment for potable use.
“Potable water that is resultant of the treatment processes at Rand Water remains of world standard. Rand Water in effect abstracts upstream of these areas in question,’’ he said.
IOL