Vaal river
SAHRC recommends that Cabinet intervenes in Vaal sewage ‘crisis’
The inquiry into the sewage crisis in the Vaal has found the Emfuleni Local Municipality flouted it's constitutional duties by allowing people to live in...
The Human Rights Commission has released the findings of its investigation into the sewage crisis facing the Vaal District.
The persistent rainfall over the past two weeks has seen positive results, ensuring that dam levels in the county’s largest water system, the Vaal River system, were in a good way.
The levels had dropped to a record low of just over 29% at the end of last month with the dam affected by a combination of heatwaves and a lack of continuous rainfall in the Vaal Dam's catchment areas.
The municipality’s financial problems have brought service delivery in communities in the Vaal to its knees.
Some residents of Sebokeng in the embattled Emfuleni Local Municipality are now threatening to stay away from Wednesday’s by-elections after having to go without water for several days.
Five people drowned on Saturday when the boat they were in capsized near Spider Valley.
One body was recovered from the river bank while four others are still missing.
It is understood that a boat carrying seven people capsized on the river near Spider Valley on Saturday.
Pollution and sewage have been affecting the Vaal River for years now.
Deputy President David Mabuza was responding to oral questions in the National Council of Provinces this afternoon.
Last week, the city appealed to residents in areas, including Laudium and Atteridgeville, to use water sparingly after Rand Water reduced supply in Gauteng as a result of rapidly declining levels in the Vaal Dam.
The Water and Sanitation Department is concerned about levels which it said were plummeting weekly.
The Department of Water and Sanitation said dam levels in the Vaal River was much lower than they were the same time last year.
Deputy President David Mabuza visited the Sebokeng Wastewater Treatment Facility, which is part of the Vaal River Rehabilitation Project, on Thursday.
This was part of the Vaal River Rehabilitation Project, which kicked off last year after the river was polluted by raw sewage from pump stations in the Emfuleni Municipality.
The interdict forms part of an existing one which requires the Emfuleni Municipality to prevent raw or partially treated sewage from entering the river.
Police first discovered the body of a two-year-old toddler in the Vaal River and later found the body of a man floating in the Harts River on Thursday.
Yesterday, Nkwinti and an inter-governmental task team including Defence Minister Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula visited the area.