3 August 2026
The Percy Stewart Wastewater Treatment Works in Mogale City has been releasing poorly processed sewage into the Blougat Spruit for years. Photos: Ihsaan Haffejee
Standing on the banks of the Blougat Spruit in Mogale City, a foul, overwhelming smell lingers at the back of one’s throat. The gushing water is murky and foams. There is no sign of life, not even bird song.
“It is disgusting and heartbreaking to see what has happened to ecosystems that once had so much life,” says Trevor Brough, a water activist and director of the Cradle of Humankind World Heritage Site Association.
One of the main culprits is the Percy Stewart Wastewater Treatment Works (WWTW), which has been releasing raw and poorly processed sewage for years into the Blougat Spruit, already impacted by mining, industrial and agricultural runoff.
Video: Ihsaan Haffejee
Brough has been vigorously monitoring the polluted water source for years. He says “not only are rivers hurting surrounding communities, ecosystems and tourism, contaminated irrigation water poses a growing food safety risk”.
Speaking at the South African Human Rights Commission inquiry into the Gauteng water crisis, Brough said farmers using river water for irrigation face significant risks, with E.coli and toxins potentially contaminating the soil.
Trevor Brough, a local water activist, holds the water sample he collected from where the Percy Stewart Wastewater Treatment Works discharges into the Blougat Spruit.
Mariette Liefferink, of the Federation for a Sustainable Environment, told the SAHRC that regional ecosystems are in a state of “disaster” due to sewage from dysfunctional wastewater treatment works and acid mine drainage from the area’s “crude legacy” of mining.
The Munsieville sewage pump station, bordering the Blougat Municipal Nature Reserve, had been totally dysfunctional for years, flooding the surrounding areas with raw sewage.
Gertrude Ndlovu, who lives nearby, told us she became used to living by “a river of poo”.
The pump station, which feeds the Percy Stewart WWTW, was recently refurbished. Residents say they have not experienced spillages over the past two months.
Gertrude Ndlovu, a resident of Munsieville, lives next to the sewage pump station and has had to deal with massive sewage spills in recent times. But the refurbishment of the sewage pump station in Munsieville has brought some relief.
A 2024 water resources status report by the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research identified the Percy Stewart WWTW as a primary threat to the Cradle of Humankind site.
Assessments by the Department of Water and Sanitation between 2021 and 2024 defined the plant as being in a critical state, scoring 30%. It issued a regulatory notice, requiring the municipality to fix the plant and be fully compliant by mid-2027.
Mogale City spokesperson Adrian Amod said “significant progress” had been made. It “is fully operational and is no longer discharging raw sewage into the surrounding river system as in the past,” said Amod.
When GroundUp revisited the site, there were noticeable refurbishments with machinery that was idle now working. There were more people on site, and security had been beefed up.
Using WaterCAN’s citizen water testing kit, the results that Brough took on our visit to the works’ foaming outlet into the Blougat Spruit remain concerning.
The petrifilm test showed blue/black spots, indicating the water is not safe to drink and should be regarded as having high levels of E.coli present, a harmful bacteria found in faeces. Red spots indicated the presence of coliform bacteria. The aqua screen test turned black, showing that unsafe “bacteria-like faecal coliform” was present.
Although less solids may be discharged, the dangers are still there. In its recent Green Drop assessment, the municipality received 0% for both microbiological and chemical compliance.
The sewage pump station in Munsieville which was broken and spilling raw sewage into the community is now working.
Amod said “disinfection challenges” were “being addressed” through the commissioning of a chlorination system at the final phase of treatment.
David Omole, WWTW expert and associate professor of water engineering at Wits University, explained that when a chlorination system is not fully functional, you are “likely to have living organisms discharged into the environment” that spread at a rapid rate.
While some harmful bacteria are killed off in the earlier stages, “without that chlorination system, there is no assurance”.
Polluted water flows through the storm water canals in Krugersdorp.
Back in 2008, when the Percy Stewart plant was repeatedly failing to meet wastewater discharge standards, Mogale City appointed engineers to assess it. They recommended expanding the plant to accommodate growing sewage flows from Krugersdorp’s northern suburbs.
A Municipal Infrastructure Grant-funded expansion, initially estimated at about R94-million, was later revised to R107-million in 2019.
However, poor performance persisted due to a lack of maintenance, the loss of technical skills and operational expertise, and widespread theft and vandalism.
A Water Services Infrastructure Grant of R35-million was disbursed for phased refurbishment between 2021 and 2023.
According to Amod, “coordinated incidents of theft and vandalism” cost R48-million and “reversed” progress.
The blocked culverts of the Blougat Spruit.
Refurbishment resumed in 2024 after specialist contractors and security were deployed. He said more process controllers, engineers and support staff were appointed.
He said sludge management remains a challenge, while illegal dumping and prohibited waste continue to affect the plant.
The municipality is building an access control facility to curb illegal discharges, and plans further upgrades, including refurbishing more treatment units, commissioning a chlorination system, and installing monitoring and automation systems.
He said the plant is expected to meet licence standards by the end of the 2026/27 financial year.
But Brough says, “They can say whatever about how many millions are spent on refurbishments to the plant, but if it is still discharging this quality of water, that money means nothing.”
The dark, foaming water of the Blougat Spruit just downstream from the Percy Stewart Wastewater Treatment Works.
