The City of Cape Town has confirmed that the Strandfontein Pavilion beach and tidal pool can be reopened after two sewage spills in recent weeks.
Last Tuesday October 12, City officials cleared a blockage which caused the second spill, but which did not reach the tidal pool, said Xanthea Limberg, mayoral committee member for water and waste.
According to her, the water and sanitation depot team drained the sewage into a stormwater gully very close to the source of the spill.
“The depot team flushed the stormwater pipeline and treated it with bio-enzymes,” Ms Limberg said.
Reports of the initial spill came in on Saturday October 2 (“Sewage spill closes tidal pool”, Plainsman, October 6) and were linked to a pump station transformer that blew in September, in combination with objects and materials dumped into the sewer line.
“During the time in which the pump station was not operational, the dumped solid materials gathered and settled in the line, causing a blockage, leading to an overflow.
“This is a low-volume pump station that only services the toilets at the Strandfontein Pavilion,” said Ms Limberg.
She said the sewers were not designed to transport items such as rags, which are the most common cause of sewer blockages, but only human waste, toilet paper, and water.
The blown transformer was repaired on Wednesday October 6.
Ms Limberg said bio-remediation was applied to the affected waterbody.
Dr Zahid Badroodien, mayoral committee member for community service and health, said the City’s recreation and parks department received the water’s test results on Monday October 18.
“The results endorse that both the beach and pool can be reopened, as the levels are acceptable for recreational bathing. The tidal pool in particular returned with excellent results,” he said.
Bayview resident André Arendse wrote a letter to the Plainsman, questioning the water test results as the pool did not look fit for bathing.
“If it was in white areas like Camps Bay, Sea Point, Strand or any other area where the whites live they would have done immediate repairs and decontamination.
“That pool is a health hazard and takes a long time to recover,” he said.