12 Mar 2018

Waste oil that has not been properly disposed of, has the potential to pollute the ground and contaminate ground water.

This was said by Ghanzi District Council chairperson, Mr Galetlhaole Sixpence when at a pitso on proper management of used oil in Ghanzi recently.

He said an increase of volume of used oil in the district driven by an increase of vehicles had a corresponding chance of illegal dumping of used oil, if measures were not put in place to prevent the occurrence.

 “It is for this reason that we are gathered here to create awareness with the hope that the problem of illegal dumping of used oil will be rooted out,” he said.

On June 2016, he said 200L of used oil was illegally dumped in the bush about four kilometres from Ghanzi along Ghanzi-Grootlaagte road.

He said the oil contaminated 35 cubic metres of soil and the council had to engage a private company to decontaminate the soil at a cost of P90 000.

He said the decontamination had to be quickly undertaken to prevent pollution of underground water.
 
He said the Environmental Protection Agency of United States of America in 1994 noted that one gallon of waste oil could make a million gallons of fresh water undrinkable.

Used oil in water bodies, he said could reduce plants and animals life, because a film of used oil on water could prevent oxygen from entering the water.

Further, he noted that oil had a considerable potential to cause environmental pollution because of the ability to spread over large area of water and land.

Also, he said a very small concentration of used oil (50 to 100 parts per million) in the waste water could foul sewage treatment plant, resulting in an increased maintenance cost and reduced treatment efficiency.

“It is for this reason that I humbly request participants here present not to dispose used oil in the public sewer line,” he said.

Mr Sixpence further cautioned against disposing used oil in the landfill saying that research had demonstrated that oil may seep through the bottom of landfills and subsequently contaminate ground water supplies.

Further, he said uncontrolled burning of used oil was equally dangerous as its hazardous emissions had health implications to humans, wildlife and vegetation.

Water Affairs senior technical officer in Ghanzi, Ms Tshiamo Motlhetlhi said water table for Ghanzi region was near the ground surface, which made it more susceptible for underground water to be contaminated.

Ms Motlhetlhi said underground water regardless the depth of water table, could be contaminated by oil.

She said they had previously, spent P250 000 to rehabilitate oil contaminated area.

“Underground water is recharged by surfaced water, so oil on the ground could contaminate underground water,” she alerted.

She regretted that though oil was one of contaminators of water, some garages continued to dispose oil in the pits.

She urged boreholes owners to erect their water pumping engines on a slab to prevent oil spills on the soil.

She said during the boreholes auditing and inspection, they had experienced the spills of oils and diesel on the soil because water pumping engine were placed on the ground surface.

Water Utilities Corporation senior environmental officer in Ghanzi, Ms Goabaone Mongale warned that inappropriate disposal of oil attracted a P14 000 or 10 years penalty or both.

Ms Mongale said small amount of oil in the sewer line could render enzymes used to treat water ineffective leading to inadequate treatment of water, and subsequently when the effluent from the sewer line is disposed to the environment the environment would be harmed.

Also she said domestic waste and industrial waste should be separated.

For his part, Ghanzi District Council chief public health officer, Mr Gregar Lepang enlightened the attendants on the mandate of Tshole Trust saying it aimed at enhancing proper waste oil management.

He said in different local authorities or councils, Tshole Trust had bought tanks and erected them for disposing used oil.

In Ghanzi, he said one tank had been erected at a landfill and individuals who wanted to dispose used oil could utilise the tank free of charge.

He cautioned that used oil must be stored in metal tanks not plastic containers.

In his remarks headman of record for Kgaphamadi ward, Mr Petrous Ndjozi expressed a concern that even though government was spending a lot of funds to organise workshops, participants did not relay the information to the rest of the community.

He therefore challenged the leadership to relay the message to the members of the community. Ends