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RESIDENTS of the Onverwacht housing estate in Wellington are up in arms over the waste water which is being dumped
in the Krom River from the wine cellar on the farm.
The owner of the farm, Johan Bauermeister, has received repeated warnings from the Municipality and Department of
Water Affairs concerning the effluent running from the winery into the river, which is a tributary of the Berg River.
According to environmental regulations, industrial effluent must be pumped to a tank for treatment before being
recycled on the farm for irrigation, or it must be pumped into the sewage system.
No unpurified run-off should reach the river via stormwater drainage systems.
Says a resident at Onverwacht, "I have seen what looks like pure grape juice flowing down to the river, but by the
time the municipal inspectors are here to check, the effluent has been flushed into the river."
The cellar has been leased to Eshkol kosher winery.
Nearly a year after the first warnings, Bauermeister has now installed a small waste water tank next to the
cellar, but it is still linked to the drainage system which empties into the river.
"If that tap into the drainage chute is not removed, all the effluent will be pumped into the river on the quiet,
as he has been doing for the past year, because removal of water by tanker is expensive," says the resident, who declined to be named.
"Last week the owner of the farm started digging a trench through our private property in an attempt to relay
waste water to a dam on the farm.
"However he has not asked our permission to chop up our driveways and lawns, nor has he submitted such plans to
the Municipality."
According to Grant Momplé, chairman of Onverwacht homeowners, residents have removed the pipe from the ground.
The cellar waste is now being dumped in the vineyards.
"This is definitely not an optimal solution, but Bauermeister does not seem to be planning an adequate waste tank
to allow proper settling of the sludge.
"He appears to be acting in defiance of all the regulatory authorities."
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