City working to alleviate cemetery water table challenges
31 August 2023
Water table problems caused by heavy rainfall have affected cemeteries throughout the City in recent weeks. The City’s Recreation and Parks Department is working to resolve the resultant challenges.
Maitland Cemetery has been most affected by the recent adverse weather conditions.
Last weekend, the cemetery was inaccessible due to higher than normal water tables, which resulted in 56 funerals taking place at the Welmoed Cemetery.
Operational staff at Maitland were forced to decline some requests for the reopening of private graves for a second interment, as some sections of the cemetery reached water at a depth of less than one metre below the surface.
Gate 4A area in particular exhibits a very high water table.
‘The Department regularly informs undertakers of the situation when they make their bookings regarding any challenges. They are fully aware that there are space constraints in Maitland Cemetery as a result of the winter water table. Their clients are encouraged to visit the cemetery to observe the reopening test hole to witness the extent of the problem and provide them the time to consider alternative cemeteries if not to their satisfaction,’ said Councillor Patricia van der Ross, the City’s Mayoral Committee Member for Community Services and Health.
Water table levels typically peak around the end of September as a result of soil saturation, which results in water lying on the surface due to the inability to drain away as a result of impermeable soils.
There is no way to drain the soil rapidly so that a burial can be conducted, because the water returns to the grave as rapidly as it is pumped out.
For the next two months, the following plan of action will be implemented in Maitland and other affected cemeteries (where possible) in an effort to alleviate water table issues:
- Examine the cemetery for possible new grave sites in dry pockets.
- Make space available at the edges and ends of burial blocks in older sections of the cemetery.
- Reduce the width of some narrow gravel roads to increase burial space by making them pathway widths, and accessible by foot.
- Promote the use of Mausoleum Crypts.
- Encourage the practice of cremation where religion and culture permit it.
- Promote second burials in family graves where the water table has not affected their reuse.
- Demolished buildings will also facilitate the removal of foundations and the expansion of burial spaces.
Aside from Maitland, there are a number of cemeteries that still have spaces available for private graves. These include Klip Road (Grassy Park), Plumstead, Welmoed, Wallacedene, Rusthoff and Atlantis.
‘We realise it’s a difficult time for loved ones, but we are doing everything we can and ask residents to bear with us as we work to alleviate these issues,’ said Councillor Van der Ross.
End
Published by:
City of Cape Town, Media Office
