Page 107 - Bulletin 11 2007

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sea or into rivers, while foul drainage must first be treated. The treatment process involves
speeding up the natural decomposition processes in central stations, where the sewage is

broken up by the action of natural bacteria and finally cleansed by exposure to air.

The most suitable place in the Kalk Bay Municipality to treat the sewage was on the dunes

extending eastward from Muizenberg. But to get it here was a major engineering
undertaking, and required pumping. Thomas Bennett devised a scheme which consisted of

two drainage areas where the sewage drained by gravity to pumping stations. (Fig. 2.23).
One was from Lakeside (above the main road) through Muizenberg as far as the rise at

Abe Bailey’s house Rust and Vrede. This area was drained in stoneware pipes by gravity
to a site east of the present Prince George Drive, where the municipal works already

described would be situated.

The other was the whole area of St. James and Kalk Bay as far as the Trappies which

drained by gravity in stoneware pipes to the Auxiliary Pumping Station which delivered

the sewage under pressure in a cast iron pipeline (which can still be seen here and there,
mainly crossing subways to the beach) as far the Muizenberg railway goods yard, after

which it ran by gravity to the main pumping station east of Zandvlei. Between St. James
and Kalk Bay a tunnel had to be blasted through the solid rock.

Unfortunately, things went awry right from the very beginning. Bennett drew up the

plans on his own, and simply assumed that the land he wanted for the works,

particularly in Kalk Bay, would be available free. He chose a site for the Kalk Bay
pumping station between the Main Road and the railway to the north of the English

Church School. (Fig. 2.24). But the Cape Government Railways absolutely refused to
allow them to use the land which belonged to them, despite pressure brought on them

through other Government Ministries. They said they wanted the site for an engine
turntable (though looking at the CGR correspondence files it is clear that the turntable

idea was concocted to block the application, as the turntable was eventually built south

of the schoolroom). So a new site for the pumping station had to be found.