Although the latest State of the Bay report showed some welcome and drastic improvements in certain areas, there is plenty reason for great concern in other areas. We welcome visitors and industries to bring growth and capital, but with the growth comes severe pressure on services and infrastructure, of which water and sanitation is one of the most burdened departments.
A whopping R167 million – more than a third of the Saldanha Bay Municipality’s total budget – will be spend on water and sanitation alone in the next few years to cope with the growing demands of the Industrial Development Zone (IDP) and other developments. While current Waste Water Treatment Works (WWTW) needs to be upgraded, it has become critical to further treat final effluent from the WWTW to a quality where most of the final effluent can be re-used by industries. Storm water run-off from industrial and residential areas in Saldanha Bay and Langebaan also poses a threat to the marine environment as all storm water outlets drain into the sea.
“If urbanization continuous, we will have a huge problem as too much effluent is flowing into the Bay,” Gavin Williams said yesterday in his speech about SBM Upgrades, sewage and water at the Open Day of the Saldanha Bay Water Quality Forum Trust in the Langebaan Country Club. More than 100 concerned residents and officials from government and industry came to listen to the scientific reports of various experts, presented annually by the SBWQFT.
The attendees, including Directors of DEADP and SBM Mayor Marius Koen and Councillors Jaco Kotze, André Kruger and Dries Venter, were reminded that the positive impacts of the huge proposed industrial and mining developments can have disastrous effects on tourism and the already burdened environmental health of the Bay, if strict compliance enforcement is not applied at all times. Altogether 13 departments on national, provincial and municipal level will be working together to help secure the environmental health of the Bay. The Inter Governmental Task Team ( IGTT ) has been inaugurated during 2015 and now gathers quarterly to discuss relevant issues in this regard.
Some alarming facts that were mentioned, include:
* Alarming decline in oxygen-levels in the water around the harbour and Small Bay, which is detrimental to all marine life;
* A dramatic increase in toxic trace elements found in mussels living on the periphery of the Bay is an indication of exceedingly high levels of lead, cadmium, manganese and zinc in the water. The concentrations found in farmed mussels are much less, but if the situation continues, mussel farming will eventually have to be stopped.
* Alarming decrease in the Bay’s most prominent angling fish species, the Stompneus, due to loss of nursery habitat and over-fishing;
* Severe decline in bird species such as the bank cormorant, Cape gannet, penguins, migratory as well as resident waders due to impact on breeding ground, water activities and climate change.