This information shared by Steven Freemantle.

This article submitted by Judith Taylor, Jukskei River Catchment Management Forum. 

Despite everyone reporting this incident repeatedly, no action has been taken by Joburg Water.  This is not acceptable especially in drought conditions. This photo was taken by a trusted member of the Forum.

Click here and here for a copy of the letter received from Joburg Water by Anthony Duigan in response to his query about the sewage problem.

Paul Fairall, the JRCMAF chairman, comments "All of this could and should have been foreseen and avoided."

However the problem is not unique to the Jukskei Catchment, as can be seen from the remarks of Andrew Barker who chairs KlipSA:

The two main catchments that we are involved in the South are the Klip River and Blesbokspruit.

Both of these are experiencing problems relating to WWTW discharges and poorly maintained sewer infrastructure resulting in high levels of E.Coli and F.Coli. Recent water quality status reports delivered yesterday at the Klip River forum (should be available on the reservoir.co.za website) share unacceptable levels of pollutants. We have the Blesbokspruit meeting tomorrow.

Another issue which is starting to be seen in the water quality results is the high levels of magnesium and sodium arising from the AMD which is having an environmental impact downstream towards the Barrage.
Based on our (KlipSA) concerns about the high levels of pollution in the Klip River, the use of the river by the community for agriculture, ritual and day-to-day water use, we requested an urgent investigation and plan of action to be prepared by national, provincial and local authorities to address the unacceptable pollution levels. We asked for this plan of action and its associated measures, including scheduled maintenance programme, to be undertaken by the authorities and should be included in the current round of budget review and preparation processes with 2016/17.

We were told yesterday that due to the problems in the Vaal that have been making the news recently a Task Team has been set up by DWS at the instruction of the Minister. A preliminary report has been prepared and sent through to the DG's office indicating problems with the maintenance and overloading of WWTW, equipment issues and general systems maintenance. Action plans and costings are being prepared for short, medium and long-term implementation. We were also told that the Minister is very concerned about local authority compliance and while there may be plans, implementation is not being seen. The 8% budget for maintenance is considered to be inadequate.

A petition has already been sent to Joburg Water, the City of Joburg and DWS.  We are thinking of making this an electronic campaign so that all the catchment problems in Gauteng can be addressed by signees.
What are the forum's thoughts?