Kommetjie development in dust bust

The City is taking a developer to task after dust control at a residential development in Kommetjie was found to be non-compliant with the City’s Air Quality Management By-law.

Following a visit from an inspector on Tuesday September 6, the City said it would serve Red Cliff Properties, with a “pre-compliance notice to address the non-compliance”.

The Echo received several calls from residents next to the Riverside Extension 2 development on Tuesday and Wednesday, August 30 and August 31, complaining about excessive dust from the site.

Erik Hesse, who lives about 70 metres from the development, said that in March this year, when civil infrastructure works started, there was insufficient dust mitigation. He reported this to City and an irrigation system was subsequently installed and water was pumped out of Bokramspruit to keep the soil damp.

Another resident, Paul Austin, whose house faces the development, had to resort to sealing windows and doors with duct tape.

He said there had been a lot of dust shortly after construction started in March. He said residents complained and threatened to have construction shut down if the dust wasn’t managed. Measures were put in place and the dust was reduced, he said.

The winter was fairly wet with rain evenly interspersed, he said, yet nothing was done during these months to prevent the same problem from occurring in the months to follow.

Mr Austin said a “deep trench” for a water pipe, awaiting council inspection, had been outside his house for two months and the sand from the trench was being blown “all over the place”.

A 78-year-old resident, who asked not to be named, said she is asthmatic and the dust affected her breathing.

“You can hear my chest isn’t right,” she said to the Echo during a telephone conversation.

She said she couldn't understand why the developer had stopped watering and why they couldn’t put down netting.

She said she had to do seven loads of washing when the dust was at its worst.

“Everything was covered in sand. My duvet cover, my sheets, and everything else,” she said.

An independent landscape contractor, Leigh Palmer, said the onus was on the developer to control the dust and on the council to make sure it was being done in compliance with the National Building Regulations and Buildings Standards Act 103 of 1977.

According to the South African National Standards (SANS), dust fall levels that breach national regulations are characterised by a layer of dust thick enough for a person to write words in the dust with their fingers. This can be seen in several of the photographs supplied to the Echo.

Red Cliff Property owner Gerhard van der Horst said he was aware of the problem and several people in the dust-control business whom he had consulted agreed that the best remedy was to “straw stabilise”, which they were doing by breaking up bales of hay and placing the hay on the loose soil.

“The specific advice we received was to only straw stabilise where the soil is loose as it is counter-productive to break any compacted soil to install straw. We have also acquired water spraying equipment,” he said.

However, during the Echo’s visit to the site on Thursday September 1, people were placing straw on the loose soil but it was blown away in the slight breeze.

Mr Van der Horst said the dust-control measures had been in place while the contractor had been on the site and the problem had emerged after the contractor had left. He said the dust control was now back with the developer.

Asked what dust-mitigation measures were stipulated in the environmental impact assessment, he said: “There is no specific measure prescribed as each situation is unique.”

Mayoral committee member for community safety and health Patricia van der Ross said the City’s air quality management unit had met with the development project manager, who had acknowledged that she was aware of the complaint and that they had started putting down straw.

The usual protocol was to serve a pre-compliance notice as the City’s environmental health department could not pre empt or speculate on the outcome of the process, she said.

Project manager, Nikki Avsar, from Progressive Project Managers, said it was not factually correct to say there had not been any dust control measures during the winter months. The contractor, she said, monitored by the environmental control officer, had had a number of control measures in place for the duration of their contract.

Ms Avsar said that when they became aware of the issue, they responded as quickly as possible. “We are working with the relevant council officials and continue efforts on site to control dust fallout,” she said.