Councillors want landfill to be relocated

Tsaone Basimanebotlhe | Thursday February 4, 2016 15:30

 

Councillor for Boseja/Flowertown, Tumelo Koolekanye, yesterday told Mmegi in an interview that they do not want a landfill, which poses risks to the soil, and groundwater, which is closer to their water resources.

Koolekanye said the P200 million landfill can be located in the north western part of Mahalapye and not pose any risk to the soil and groundwater.

He said the existing dumping site represented a long-term threat to underground water in Palla Road, a well field where most water resources are situated.

“The precipitation (rainfall) that falls into the dumping site, coupled with any disposed liquid waste, results in the extraction of the water soluble compounds and particulate matter of waste and therefore lead to the formation of waste water which will represent a major threat to current and future quality of groundwater in our major Palla Road well field,” he said.

He said once the wastewater is formed and releasing into the groundwater environment, it will migrate downward through an unsaturated zone until it eventually reaches the saturated zones.

He said the quality of water within their area would therefore be degraded from its current state.

The councillor said if the dumping site was not closed then it would be costly to the government in the near future because it would require a lot of money to clean ground water before use.

Koolekanye said the population of Mahalapye was growing due to the increase in businesses and government services, which puts a stress on the dumping site.

He said the Mahalapye dumping site has chemicals that soak into the earth and pose serious risks to the environment both in terms of soil contamination and groundwater.