Cape Town ensured no sewer overflow disruptions at beaches this festive season
13 January 2025
The City of Cape Town’s Water and Sanitation Directorate successfully prevented disruptions at beaches due to sewage overflows, ensuring residents and visitors enjoy clean and safe public spaces.
The success is attributed to various cutting-edge digital monitoring measures, including the City’s Pump Station Control Room, a digital hub which monitors the telemetry alarm system for 404 sewer pump stations, 57 water pump stations and 60 reservoirs, ensuring rapid response times for urgent infrastructure repairs.
The sewer network includes both sewer lines and pump stations, which are proactively monitored across the city. Special attention was given to pump stations near the coast in preparation for the festive season. To mitigate power supply interruptions, these pump stations have been equipped with generators or UPS systems. Additionally, maintenance activities have included cleaning all wet-wells before mid-December, regular de-ragging of pumps and impellers and live tracking of water and sanitation infrastructure performance through the City’s Pump Station Control Room.
These measures ensured that, where two sewer overflows arose in the vicinity of beaches – one at Kalk Bay due to a blockage and the other at Clifton 4th due to a power disruption – these were quickly contained and cleaned up without causing any disruption to beachgoers.
‘Pump stations are vulnerable to failures caused by factors such as clogging from foreign objects improperly disposed of in the sewer network, resulting in mechanical failures and pumps tripping due to overheating. From 15 December 2024 to 10 January 2025, 10 incidents occurred at pump stations across the City, the second-lowest number recorded during the festive season over the past four years. Through the vigilance of the Digital Hub, 92,68% of all failures at pump stations were resolved within 24 hours, surpassing the 85% target set in the Mayoral Priority Programme.
‘The City remains committed to delivering high-quality water and sanitation services throughout the festive season and beyond. With proactive planning and a dedicated team in place, residents and visitors can expect reliable services as Cape Town manages the increased summer demand,’ said the City’s Mayoral Committee Member for Water and Sanitation, Councillor Zahid Badroodien.
Annual proactive interventions to maintain clean and safe public spaces include cleaning bulk sewer lines, conducting wet-well cleaning and maintenance at sewer pump stations, controlling water pollution and managing water pressure.
The City annually replaces ageing sewer infrastructure to prepare for heightened demand. During the previous financial year, 96,8 kms of sewer pipes were replaced, and in the first six months of this financial year, 57,8 kms have already been replaced.
Bulk sewer line cleaning is an annual activity, with a concentrated focus on coastal areas in the lead up to festive seasons. By the end of December 2024, 145,6 kms of sewer lines had been cleaned, putting the City on track to meet and potentially surpass the 266 kms cleaned during the previous financial year.
These activities enable the City to maintain the integrity and functionality of the sewer network, although blockages still occur due to inappropriate usage. The interventions have contributed in reducing sewer blockages citywide over several festive seasons from 9 917 during 15 December 2022 – 15 January 2023, compared to 7 578 during 15 December 2024 – 10 January 2025.
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Published by:
Media Office, City of Cape Town
