Pretoria – The Department of Water and Sanitation says there are mandatory procedures which need to be followed in order to fix the Platberg sewage pump station which has been out of order for some time.
Responding to an article published in The New Age’s Free State edition, the department said a team visited the sewage pump station on 12 March 2015 to verify facts about a complaint that was received regarding sewage spillage.
During the visit, the team discovered the pump station in Platberg was overflowing and there was a water leakage opposite house number 1173 and next to a newly built hospital.
“Amongst other things, there was a general complaint of unclean or poor quality drinking water,” said the department.
The Mantsopa Local Municipality is in the process of fast tracking paper work in order to get the supplier for the pump station to be fixed.
“The municipality had to attend to the leakages that were found as a matter of urgency,’ the department said.
The water quality the residents have complained about is due to maintenance and does not last long as the colour changes.
The role of the department is to monitor compliance - the municipality is still responsible for operating and maintaining its infrastructure.
The department also advises on the standards and procedures that have to be followed in order to maintain the pump station in a correct and operational state that ensures that the lives of people and livestock are safe, and that the environment is protected.
The department said it was still monitoring progress on the issue and ensuring the municipality’s compliance in terms of the overall protection of the water resource. – SAnews.gov.za
