The Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment (DFFE) says the Coastal Waters Discharge Permits (CWDPs) issued to the City of Cape Town were preceded by marine-impact assessment studies that indicated that there is no immediate ecological disaster or major risks to human health forthcoming as a result of the effluent discharged through the Cape Town outfalls.

Additionally, alternative options were also considered during the decision-making process. However, no other feasible options are available currently, it says.

The DFFE was responding to media reports and the reported plans of political party Action SA to appeal the CWDPs issued for the Hout Bay, Camps Bay and Green Point wastewater treatment works.

"The city cannot cease the operations of the wastewater treatment works as the municipality has a Constitutional responsibility to deliver water and sanitation services to its citizens. In granting the permits, the department made it conditional that the city must investigate ways to improve the quality of the effluent," the DFFE emphasises.

"The department would like to make it clear that it is a common practice in coastal cities around the world to discharge wastewater into the marine environment. Further, the effluent discharged is not raw sewage, but preliminary treated sewage."

The department is also aware that there were sewage spills, resulting from pump station failures in some areas in the City of Cape Town over the 2022 festive period.

"It is important to note that these spills were not linked in any way to the three permitted marine outfalls," the DFFE points out.

In South Africa, discharge of wastewater into the marine environment is legislated under the National Environmental Management: Integrated Coastal Management Amended Act and the Coastal Waters Discharge Permit Regulations, which state that any person discharging effluent originating from land into coastal waters must obtain a CWDP from the DFFE.

When the City of Cape Town submitted its applications, as part of the permitting requirements, the city was required to conduct a marine-impact assessment study to assess the impact of the effluent on the receiving environment, which was undertaken by the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research, the DFFE says.

"The department is of the view that all the legislative processes were followed during the decision-making process," it adds.

Meanwhile, the DFFE made it conditional in the permit that the permit holder must monitor the effluent before it is discharged into the coastal waters and that the permit holder must conduct monitoring in the receiving environment every year to assess the potential impact of the discharges on the receiving environment.

Additionally, the permit holder must submit monitoring results to the DFFE on a quarterly basis and the DFFE compliance office will conduct compliance audits to assess compliance with the conditions of the permit.

"There is ongoing monitoring that is required to investigate ways of improving the quality of effluent on a long-term basis, and the conditions set in the permits are aimed at addressing the risks that are associated with the marine outfalls," the department says.