Poor planning leads to pollution
ON Thursday June 5 the world celebrated World Environment Day with this year's theme being: "Raise your voice not the sea level". The Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality has commenced with a Go Green climate change advocacy programme that seeks to raise awareness about climate change and service delivery issues related to water, energy, waste, hygiene, environmental well-being and sustainable transport. It also seeks to mobilise residents to be the eyes and ears of the municipality when illegal activities occur that impact on communities and surroundings. As a resident and also a public representative of this beautiful metro, I want to raise my voice regarding what I experienced in the Markman industrial area. I was excited to go to see the upgraded Studebaker pump station as well as the back-up diesel pump that had been installed to kick in when there was a breakdown or power outage. When I arrived, there was a municipal truck and I saw some horrible black, stinking "stuff" going down the stormwater drain, which leads to the Markman stormwater canal and then eventually flows down into the Swartkops River. I was told the pump station had again broken down, and therefore the effluent had to be pumped out and taken away. I also learnt that the back-up pump had not yet been installed and the upgrade had yet not been finalised because the building first had to be extended. Where is the planning that went into this upgrade? Is this just again a case of a waste of ratepayers' money? The new pumps and back-up are standing there, but cannot be used because "someone" did not plan in advance. Now we must probably wait for months again for the process to go through supply chain management. In the meanwhile the pump station breaks down every other week and this "mess" ends up in the Swartkops Estuary. No wonder we can't eat the fish caught there anymore, and use the river for sport and recreation, such as for the Redhouse River Mile. The air pollution unit also needs to investigate the horrific stench that hangs over the whole area. Whether it comes from the tannery, abattoir or another company, the unit needs to investigate whether the standards are not being exceeded. After my visit I felt sick to the stomach for several days and had a terrible headache. The workers in that area can definitely not be exposed to such horrible conditions every day without getting terribly ill! I want to suggest that the NMBM take the Go Green awareness campaign to its own officials first. It is a crying shame and a very bad reflection on the metro that it is one of the main contributors of fouling one of our biggest environmental assets, the Swartkops River. It is my responsibility as an elected public representative in our metro to bring these matters to the attention of our communities. I will not stop raising these issues of importance at council level until our "sick" Swartkops Estuary has recovered to its former glory. Brenda Matthee, DA councillor and member of the public health standing committee, NMBM
