Sewerage Damage Report

Dear Members,

Plettenberg Bay is facing simultaneous water supply and sewage infrastructure failures while further housing developments continue to be approved.

Attached is a disturbing report prepared by Bill Alexander for the Plett Ratepayers Association on the growing environmental damage and public risks arising from failures in our water and sanitation systems.

 

PDF documentSewerage ReportDownload

The report supports our requests to Bitou Council and the National Minister of Water and Sanitation to consider suspending further housing approvals linked to constrained municipal infrastructure until adequate capacity has been demonstrably restored.

The Plett Ratepayers Association has repeatedly called on Bitou Municipality and the Minister to comply with the Water Services Act by ensuring that new developments are approved only where sufficient water and sanitation services exist. Copies of our correspondence are attached.

The current situation is deeply concerning. Since 5 May, Bitou has been unable to extract water from the Keurbooms River because the river channel shifted during recent storms. At the same time, a sewer pump station was washed away, resulting in untreated sewage entering the Bitou River.

While infrastructure damage through severe weather events is uncontrollable, the municipality has since provided no firm timelines for repairs to either the water extraction works or the sewer system. Nor has it issued any public health or safety advisories regarding the significant and ongoing sewage contamination of the Bitou River and Keurbooms Lagoon.
Despite these failures, and despite having no meaningful emergency water or sanitation measures in place, the municipality continues to approve large scale housing developments that existing infrastructure is already struggling to support.

This is particularly alarming given that Bitou's own 2025 Water Services Development Plan and Audit Report concluded that the municipality had already exceeded its available water and sanitation capacity. Yet approvals continue, while several thousand additional housing units remain in the development pipeline.

This is not a short term challenge. Population growth in Bitou is expected to remain well above the provincial average, making it one of the fastest growing municipalities in the Garden Route and the Western Cape. Infrastructure planning must anticipate this growth rather than continually fall behind it.

We believe it is essential that Bitou Municipality comply fully with environmental and water legislation and refrain from approving further developments based on piecemeal solutions such as boreholes, rainwater tanks and packaged sewage plants without a comprehensive assessment of their long term impacts.

Such an assessment should consider public health risks, impacts on river flows during dry periods, contingency arrangements when these systems fail, the environmental consequences of sewage discharge into our rivers and coastal waters, and the long term financial implications for the municipality.

The purpose of this legislation is to protect communities, infrastructure, public health and water security. It must be properly enforced before irreversible damage is done.

The question is simple: if the municipality cannot reliably provide water and sanitation services to existing residents, on what basis can it continue approving thousands of additional housing units?

Kind regards,
Tony Blignaut

PDF documentAppeal to Bitou CouncilDownload

PDF documentAppeal to Minister of Water and SanitationDownload