Cape Town - A sewage spill on the grounds of Pollsmoor Correctional Centre saw City of Cape Town officials rush to the prison on Monday to prevent local rivers from contamination.
Ward councillor, Carolynne Franklin, said she was alerted to the issue by prison management.
She said an inspection by officials on the prison grounds showed the contaminated water had spilled across a wide area and later it was found that the blockage was caused by waste dumped in the sewerage system.
“I was alerted at about 5.30pm as I am in contact with the area managers of the prison. The spill came from the prison grounds and City of Cape Town teams were immediately alerted.
“Sometimes there are issues with logging service request for the prison as it is a National Key Point and cannot be pinned on a map.
“I sent an alert to the community to be careful when going near the West Lake River due to possible contamination but the alert was then recreated, sparking alarm.
“There is a sewage dam on the prison grounds which has overflowed before.”
Franklin said there are two sewer lines in the area, of which one is maintained by the municipality and the other by the Department of Correctional Services (DCS).
DCS spokesperson, Singabakho Nxumalo, confirmed the incident and said the leak came from the Westlake community mainline which is managed by the City of Cape Town.
“Unfortunately, the mainline runs through agricultural site of Pollsmoor, often leading to the mistaken belief that our facility is responsible.
“The leak was reported to the City of Cape Town (Monday), and when delays occurred, the local councillor was asked to intervene.
“Currently, the City of Cape Town is actively working on resolving the problem.”
It is unclear if any inmates or staff at the facility were impacted by the spill.
Mayco member for water and sanitation, Zahid Badroodien, said the City’s teams found the blockage was due to waste such as rags, forks and spoons in the sewer pipe.
“The blockage was resolved about 9am on Monday morning. The public in this area are reminded to please dispose of these waste items using appropriate solid waste services, not the sewer system.”
Badroodien said as other areas also feed into the affected sewer lines, officials cannot ascertain if the items dumped in the sewer were done by inmates as the line also services Westlake.
“Thankfully, due to the quick response from our operational team the impact on the river was minimal.
“We note a social media post suggesting that there would be a major environmental impact at the M3 bridge but it was prevented and this location at the time of inspection was unaffected,” said Badroodien.