Local Government, Environmental Affairs and Development Planning
With regard to the Stony Point Reserve in Betty’s Bay:
(a) What progress has been made with the extension of the reserve area, (b) when is the extension likely to be completed and (c) when did CapeNature and the Overstrand Municipality meet most recently to discuss the extension?
This Department deals with land-based pollution impacting areas above the high-water mark and thus is not mandated to deal with coastal water quality. Consequently, this Department is not responsible to audit, monitor or evaluate coastal water quality and/or reporting by the City of Cape Town and/or other institutions/stakeholders and is unable to provide further comment on the questions raised. The National Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment (DFFE) is the lead Department in this regard.
For purposes of providing some insight, the DFFE is the responsible authority for regulating point source discharges into the coastal environment through issuing Coastal Water Discharge Permits (CWDP). The City of Cape Town’s Wastewater Sea Outfalls are complying with the conditions set in these permits.
The South African Water Quality Guidelines for Coastal Waters, Volume 2: Guidelines for Recreational Use was published in 2012 by the then National Department of Environmental Affairs and is available online. The guidelines provide target values for various water quality parameters and also provides guidance on monitoring protocols including: maintaining sampling log charts, sampling periods and frequencies, sampling procedures and analytical methods.
