The City’s Water Pollution Control unit continues to inspect properties across the city to ensure they do not have illegal sewer to stormwater connections. Mayoral Committee Member for Water and Sanitation, Councillor Zahid Badroodien recently joined the team for inspections in Langa on Friday, 25 October 2024.

The City’s Water and Sanitation Directorate’s Water Pollution Control team (WPC) conducts regular inspections to ensure compliance with the City by-laws, especially illegal water discharges into the city’s stormwater network.

From July 2023 to June 2024 the team inspected 12 761 properties and issued 145 contravention notices. A total of 101 property owners disconnected their illegal connections on their own, after they were issued with the notice. The remaining illegal connections were disconnected by the City’s Roads and Infrastructure Management teams.

This disconnection programme is a collaborative effort with other key stakeholders, including the Water Inspectorate, Law Enforcement, subcouncils, Environmental Health, Urban Waste Management, and Roads and Infrastructure Management.

In recent months, the City has conducted 16 disconnections in Lwandle, one in Asanda, nine in Nomzamo, and four in Witsands. Similar inspections are planned for Langa, Westlake, Ocean View, Kalkfontein, Klipheuwel, Beacon Hill and Avondale in the coming weeks.

Typically illegal connections come from washing machines, kitchen sinks and washing basins, where the runoff should be directed into the sewer system, but is illegally directed into the stormwater system. This dirty water then pools in yards and road surfaces, creating a habitat for pests and insects, posing a health risk to communities.

This polluted water ultimately finds its way into the stormwater channels, which discharge to nearby streams, rivers, wetlands and oceans.

How the inspection and disconnection process works

·       A house-to-house physical inspection is done to check for compliance with the City's Stormwater Management By-law.

·       In cases where transgressions are observed, the homeowner/tenant is informed on the impact of the illegal connections on public health and the environment.

·       The property owner is then issued with a contravention notice according to the by-law, which stipulates the timeframe in which the contravention must be rectified.

·       Properties that comply with the notices and remove the illegal connections are noted as complying with the relevant legislation.

·       Properties where contraventions are ongoing after a follow-up inspection are then disconnected.

‘We appeal to residential, business and industrial property owners to educate themselves on what is allowed and what is not allowed when it comes to stormwater and sewer connections on their properties so they can ensure they are doing the right thing and complying with the City’s by-laws.

‘If property owners receive notices to comply, they will have an opportunity to rectify the situation and failing to do so in the stipulated timeframe, will result in the City, as a last resort, having to do the disconnection. These tremendous efforts by our WPC team go a long way in improving the City’s inland water quality. The stormwater and sewer systems also have different functions, so it’s vital to ensure that they are operating correctly to help reduce the risk of overflows particularly during winter,’ said Councillor Zahid Badroodien.

Supplied by: City of Cape Town