Vandalism and illegal dumping contributes to flooding in the City
14 April 2025
The continuous vandalism of stormwater infrastructure and illegal dumping into the stormwater system have a major impact on the overall functioning of the City’s stormwater system. These illegal activities lead to localised flooding during heavy rainfall events. The most recent example is the impact on the De La Rey stormwater pond in Bellville last week, 8 April 2025. The pond is located at a lower level than the drainage network and hence two pumps are required to assist with flood control. During an episode of heavy rains the detention pond filled and the water had to be pumped into a 900 mm diameter pipe and from there to the stormwater culvert downstream. Unfortunately, the pumps were vandalised and out of order, irrespective of the continuous actions by City staff to safeguard these units. Subsequently, the pond breached the banks and overflowed into the residential area around Ravensmead. Read more below:
Canals, retention and detention ponds and other stormwater related infrastructure are used to divert water from rainfall events to the rivers and sea. This function is severely hampered when various parts of the stormwater system are vandalised, or when rubble, plastics and other foreign objects are dumped into the system which means draining takes longer, which then causes localised flooding.
‘The cost of the infrastructure repairs and the replacement of stolen infrastructure is a waste of public money which the municipality cannot afford. The impact on surrounding communities is also severe. We ask that residents please report any suspicious activity and incidents related to vandalism and illegal dumping of objects into the stormwater system to the City. We maintain the stormwater system throughout the year. Annual cleaning takes place by means of a winter preparedness programme where stormwater inlets, outlets, catchpits, canals and ad-hoc piped systems are cleaned before the winter season. With reference to the De La Rey pond in particular, this is an example of continuous vandalism which comes at a great cost. Over recent years, culprits have broken into the pumphouse and stolen the switch gear, which alone costs R750 000. On one occasion a criminal fell into the basin where the pump is held and drowned.
‘During the last financial year the same pond has been vandalised twice and this year it was vandalised while the team was conducting its annual winter preparedness maintenance work where they found that cables had been removed for a possible resell value. For criminals to gain access to this infrastructure they have to physically crawl through the stormwater pipes to reach these parts. It is for this reason that after the intense rainfall last week, the underground system reached capacity, flowed along the roadways and eventually discharged into the Christian Street detention pond in Ravensmead. We are now busy with our third attempt over recent years to fence the pond. This project comes at a huge price of R6,5 million just so that we can prevent vandalism and dumping as the dumping causes blockages that causes the pump to seize,’ said Councillor Quintas.
Residents are requested to please report any vandalism tip offs via 0800 65 64 63; email transport.info@capetown.gov.za or SMS 31373. Illegal dumping dumping into the stormwater system can be reported via the same channels.
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Published by:
City of Cape Town, Media Office
