Residents in De Zoete Inval in Paarl South are frustrated about not only the noise pollution, but also the cement spills and air pollution they have to live with.
Residents who live in Frater Street told Paarl Post the speeding trucks filled with cement from a local ready-mix cement company in the area, Portland Readymix, and the cement particles on their property have got so bad they are considering moving house.
According to the residents, they have complained many times to Drakenstein Municipality about the municipal by-laws they believe the company is contravening, but after years they still face the same issues.
Jacqui Samson, Executive Director: Planning and Development at the municipality, explained the surrounding area in which the ready-mix company is located used to be an industrial area.
She said in 2018 the municipality received a dust and pollution complaint regarding the ready-mix company and at that time the municipality arranged a joint site visit with officials from the Western Cape Department of Environmental Affairs and Development Planning (DEA&DP) and the Cape Winelands District Municipality (CWDM) to ascertain whether there were any serious environmental transgressions on site.
Samson said during the site visit there was evidence of contaminated stormwater overflowing onto a nearby residential complex.
“The DEA&DP and CWDM officials did not find any major contraventions and indicated that they would not take further action in terms of the National Environmental Management Act. They advised that this matter be addressed in terms of the municipal by-laws. Following this site visit the municipality issued a Compliance Notice in June 2018 in respect of the Drakenstein Public Nuisances By-law. The notice required the facility to develop an EMP (Environmental Management Plan) for the operations at the plant. It had to identify all activities contributing to dust and stormwater contamination beyond the erf boundary and identify mitigation measures for these activities.”
She said in August 2018 the submitted EMP was approved by the municipality. “This included the development of a wash bay to clean trucks before leaving the facility, the construction of a settlement pond to capture contaminated stormwater; dust mitigation measures by implementing speed control of trucks, and the installation of a filter system to address dust from the off-loading of cement from the silo.”
According to Samson, in 2021 the municipality received complaints from residents in Frater Street regarding noise, stones and cement dust left on the road from the trucks leaving the site as well as the speed at which these trucks travelled.
“The municipality arranged additional site visits and found that the state of their site in terms of stormwater management was not satisfactory. The company also agreed that some of their trucks did spill material onto Frater Street, and in response they had employed a street sweeper to clean the road regularly.”
She said in September 2021 the Municipality issued another compliance notice the company in respect of the Drakenstein Public Nuisance Bylaw, the Streets Bylaw and the Air Quality Management By-law. According to Samson, this was done due to the contraventions related to the stormwater management, the mud build-up on the site which is transferred onto Frater Street by their trucks, and the generation of excessive dust.
Samson said as part of the notice, the company was required to update their EMP to address the following:
. The elimination of spilled material and dust onto public streets from vehicles entering and leaving the facility;. The reduction of night-time noise from trucks between 22:00 and 06:00;. The reduction of dust generation at the facility;. The development of a dust fall monitoring programme in accordance with the National Dust Regulations of 2013;. The accommodation of stormwater run-off;. The creation of detention facilities to catch run-off;. The hardening of surface terrain to prevent mud formation; and. The construction of a hard surface exit route to Frater Street.
“The municipality held a meeting with the owner of the company and their Health, Safety and Environmental Manager after the notice was issued, where the requirements of the notice were discussed as well as their future plans for the site,” Samson said.
“Following this meeting, the company developed an updated EMP and undertook dustfall out monitoring on their boundary for a period of three months. No dustfall exceedances, in accordance with the National Dust Regulations of 2013, were found during the monitoring period.
“Subsequent to this, complaints were received again about the condition of Frater Street after trucks leave the site. The company agreed to implement additional mitigation measures, including equipping their ready-mix trucks with chute bags to capture spillage, and to continue the sweeping of public streets when necessary.”
She said in addition, the municipality’s Engineering Services Department’s actions to address the issue relating to regarding waste being deposited on Frater Street includes the collection of samples of waste to determine their content, cleaning of the surfaces by municipal personnel in the absence of action by the company, and actions to be followed in terms of the Streets Bylaw regarding the spillage.
“The municipality is now engaging with the prosecutor at the Drakenstein Municipal Court to determine a possible way forward to address the issues in the street,” Samson concluded.
Paarl Post contacted the company for comment, but by the time of going to print no comment had been received.
