Winter Readiness: City on track to jet-clean 200km of sewers ahead of winter

13 April 2023

Cape Town Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis says the City is on track to proactively jet-clean 200 kilometres of sewer pipeline ahead of the winter season, with over 190km of pipeline already complete. This is the largest sewer cleaning project yet undertaken by the City as part of its annual metro-wide Winter Readiness campaign to mitigate seasonal flooding risks. The Mayor joined teams cleaning sewers to reduce the risk of winter flooding in Delft’s Pinewood Avenue on Thursday, 13 April.

Stormwater often leads to overflowing sewers during extreme winter weather in Cape Town, increasing the risk of localised flooding where there are blockages in the system. These blockages are caused by illegal dumping of foreign objects into sewers, littering, as well as natural blockages caused by sand and roots. By jet-cleaning sewers pro-actively, blockages are removed, helping to prevent flooding in vulnerable communities. This year, the South African Weather Service is forecasting reduced rainfall in the Cape Town metro, however winter readiness work continues, especially to mitigate storm-related damage.

'Sewer jetting is a key part of preparing the city for the rainy winter months. That's why we have doubled proactive jet-cleaning from 100 to 200 kilometres of sewers annually. And with 190kms already complete ahead of winter, we will reach our doubled target any day now, well ahead of schedule. Hopefully this results in far fewer residents living through localised flooding in their streets and homes.

Our work on the ground this winter coincides with massive increases to infrastructure investments for better sanitation and better dignity for the poor. This includes a four-fold increase for sewer pipe replacements, to 100km annually, and R500m this year for major bulk sewer upgrades to the Cape Flats, Milnerton, Philippi, and Gordon's Bay lines,' said Mayor Hill-Lewis.

The City's new budget includes R1,3bn to boost sewer spill responsiveness over three years. Top priorities include resourcing rapid response teams for spills, sewer repairs and manhole replacements, and digital early warnings for spills. This strategy is already leading to a 30% drop in reported spills.

Mayor Hill-Lewis was joined on Thursday's sewer jet-cleaning site visit by Mayoral Committee Member for Water and Sanitation Councillor Zahid Badroodien.

'The City attended to around 7 100 sewer blockages taking December 2022 as an example month. Of these, 5 100 (72%) were foreign objects and litter, with a further 910 (13%) due to fats from cooking. We can lessen these human-driven sewer blockages through behaviour change, never littering, and working together to report and stop illegal dumping into the sewer system. The City's investments in jet vacuum trucks is also upping our capacity to remove natural blockages from roots and sand, which cause around 12% of sewer blockages,' said Cllr Badroodien.

Besides the proactive clearing of the sewer system, the City's Winter Readiness efforts include:

Flooding mitigation through clearing of stormwater drains, ponds, canals and gullies in flood prone areas are also being cleaned by the teams from Urban Mobility
Preventative interventions to warn of flooding risks in areas with high numbers of informal structures, with Disaster Risk Management teams proactively visiting 38 high-risk areas to distribute information pamphlets, loud-hail, and in some parts erect signage indicating likely flood areas.
Support to expand beds at homeless shelters and City-run Safe Spaces to help more people off the streets
Mitigating sustained high stages of load-shedding, with business continuity preparations including fuel storage, generators and UPS systems, communications and IS&T network readiness. By June, 118 critical sewer pump stations will be fitted with generators, with a further R46m budgeted for more installations in 2023/24.
Preventing electricity outages by tree-trimming on public property and encouraging property owners to do the same ahead of winter storms. Property owners should please approach professionals for assistance to ensure trees on their property are safely trimmed.

The City has the following tips for the public about how they can help to reduce flood risks:
Clear out drainage systems on properties
Raise the floor level of a structure so that it is higher than the natural ground level
Make sandbags
Dig trenches around the house to divert water away from the house
Report blocked drains, intakes and illegal dumping – illegal dumping in the stormwater canals and sewers make flooding worse.
Don't dump illegally, rather use the City's solid waste services to get rid of waste or take their recyclables, garden greens and builders rubble to our drop-off facilities.
Check for illegal stormwater-to-sewer cross-connections on your properties, where water is chanelled from roofs, gutters, and paved or hard yard surface areas into sewer drains. Ingress of rainwater and items such as litter, material, builders rubble, fats, sanitary ware, cause sewers to overflow especially when it rains.
Waterproof roofs, clear gutters and remove dead tree branches
Do not leave an open flame unattended as the risk of fires during winter especially is significant.

In an emergency or flooding:

Call the City's Public Emergency Communication Centre on 107 from a landline or 021 480 7700 from a cellphone.

The City will do everything possible to ensure we navigate the winter season as safely as possible, and protect life and property.

End

Published by:
City of Cape Town, Media Office