Sol Plaatje must turn streetlights on for festive season
| by Reinette Liebenberg – DA Northern Cape Provincial Spokesperson on Agriculture, Land Reform, Rural Development and Nature Conservation |
| Error! Filename not specified. |
| Date: 11 October 2019 |
| Release: Immediate |
| The Democratic Alliance (DA) in the Northern Cape is deeply concerned about the environmental threat that the Sol Plaatje water crisis is posing to the city’s flamingos.The water levels of Kamfers Dam are declining every day due to the dramatic reduction of the sewerage and storm-water inflow. A constant water level of Kamfers Dam is essential for the successful breeding and survival of the flamingos. At this stage, however, there are no signs of the flamingos preparing their nests.The inability of the municipality to properly manage the flow of both sewerage and fresh water to Kamfers Dam, could mean an end to one of only four world breeding grounds for thousands of the famous lesser flamingos.The environmental implications are massive and speak to the very extinction of Kimberley’s pink pride. In effect, this will also have a knock-on effect on tourism and the local economy that is already embattled.The water shutdowns, coupled with blocked storm water drains, have detrimentally affected the supply of water to Kamfers Dam.A helicopter environmental oversight inspection conducted yesterday, further showed that the blame for the pending environmental crisis rests squarely on Sol Plaatje municipality’s poor management of bulk infrastructure. Canals of raw sewage could be seen on the doorstep of homes in the Roodepan area, as could dams of raw sewerage that are gathering in the veld and also affecting the unique biodiversity in Platfontein. See picture here.The R366 million Homevale Waste Water Treatment Works (HWWTW) is not in working condition and the raw sewerage is flowing directly into Kamfers Dam. Gogga Pump station’s upgrades, which forms part of a R425 million storm water upgrade, is also not functional. To plan and finish the upgrade of the HWWTW in 2016 and still struggle with extensive sewerage connections and lines in 2019, is unacceptable.This is not the first time the flamingos have been threatened by an environmental support-systems collapse. Sol Plaatje is clearly not capable of putting proper long term plans and solutions in place.The DA cannot tolerate a situation that threatens the very existence of the flamingos.Sol Plaatje is blaming the community of vandalism, and unacceptable sewerage usage. However, the municipality is silent on their own inabilities, like securing their assets, optimising debt collection and proper planning programmes.The DA is seriously questioning the ability of the municipality to assess the extent of their own infrastructure problems and manage bulk water and sewerage services.Sol Plaatje needs to urgently attend to fixing the many sewerage and storm water blockages to allow the efficient and effective flow of water and sewerage to Kamfers Dam via a working HWWTW and Gogga Pump station, if it cares about the longevity of the 70 000 to 100 000 flamingos in our city. |
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