Durban – Recovery efforts are under way at the Free State’s Meul River following what Transnet Pipelines has described as a spillage of a “few thousands litres of diesel” into the river this week.
This follows, Transnet Pipelines said, thieves tampering with a block valve chamber on Transnet Pipelines’ multi product pipeline, situated between Durban and Heidelberg, which resulted in big spillage at the Meul River.
Transnet Pipelines Spokesperson Saret Knoetze said that the pipeline had been fully repaired and brought back into operation by Wednesday afternoon and their focus since Wednesday morning has been on containment and recovery of diesel.
She said that their entire pipeline network, spanning around 3 800 kilometres, in five provinces was a hotspot for criminal elements as they hit them randomly across all the five provinces.
“Due to the severity of the incident, diesel landed in the local river called the Meul River. As the Meul River has got various arteries and it flows down to the Vaal Dam we’ve done precautionary measures and put what we call ocean brooms way downstream from the spillage site to ensure that no diesel reaches the Vaal Dam or reaches beyond our spill area.
“Our security, tactical team, and environmental clean-up costs are quite expensive right across all five provinces of our entire network. In this instance, it is a few thousands litres of diesel that has spilled and that we are recovering. The exact quantum is currently being determined,” Knoetze said.
She added that the full cost, the rehabilitation, and recovery of this specific incident at the Meul River had not been calculated as yet.
She further stated that they had strategically placed absorbent brooms along the river so that if the spillage missed the first broom it could be caught by the second or the third broom.
“At the actual spill site we are currently recovering all this diesel off the water and that’s the main focus at the moment, to get the diesel out the river and to contain it,” Knoetze said.
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