Prefects demand intervention from Municipality of Walvis Bay

Eileen van der Schyff

A Petition is doing rounds on social media demanding urgent intervention from the Municipality of Walvis Bay and its relevant departments on the alleged practice of raw sewage dumping into the lagoon.

The Municipality of Walvis Bay on various occasions explained publicly that the water that is running into the lagoon is not raw sewage but in fact semi-purified effluent. The effluent is only pumped into the lagoon if the system is flushed. The municipality did confirm though that during the period of upgrade works at the water works, the semi-purified effluent was smelly and also not usable to water gardens.
Prefects of a private high school in the harbour town took it upon themselves to do some-thing about what they say is “sewage being dumped into the lagoon”.
They started a petition for urgent intervention by the Municipality. They believe it is a major health hazard, as residents enjoy swimming and participating in water activities in the waters of the lagoon. Especially on warm east weather days like we had last week.
The petition reads that sewage is extremely detrimental to human health. It further reads: “Bacterial and viral infections (such as Hepatitis) can result – to name but a few.
Furthermore, it damages the overall ecology of this Ramsar site. The smells are nauseating, and it spoils the entire aesthetic value of the environment. The residents of our beautiful Port City will no longer remain silent. We demand urgent intervention from the municipality and its relevant departments on this matter.”
At the time of going to press, the petition reached 1330 signatures.