Provide suitable recommendations and solutions to the problem of population in Alexander
Answers
Answer:
Today, the population of Alexandra is estimated to be around 700,000, Problems and Recommendations
• Rehabilitation of Infrastructure: Sewerage
Problems:
Overloaded System:
Due to the fact that the originally developed area of Alex has now a population probably in excess of 4 times the number for which it was designed the waterborne sewerage system has become overloaded and thus frequently blocks and surcharges.
Poor Access for Maintenance:
The formal residential stands and houses that were built on them were designed for single family living. Backyard shacks now cover the area of most such stands. Structures have been built over sewer lines and manholes that has made access for maintenance impossible in most cases without requiring some demolition of structures.
Poor Sanitation Facilities for Informal Clusters:
The informal areas built on the riverbanks and tributaries are not connected to the formal waterborne sewerage system and are served by banks of chemical toilets. These are not only unpleasant to use but are costly for the EMLC to service. In addition because the banks of toilets are placed on the periphery of the informal clusters, because of space constraints within the areas and because of the threat of crime, dwellers do not venture out in the night to use the facilities. Hence overnight containerization of wastewater is required which is disposed of next day.
Recommendations
New Interceptor Sewers:
As a first step to overcome the general overloading of the sewerage system a concept currently being considered, and investigated by consultants engaged by the “sewerage section” of the Technical Services Department of GMJC, is to divide Alex into three sewerage zones and to construct new interceptor sewers for each zone which will connect to a new outfall sewer carrying sewage off of the site to the bulk sewerage system. The interceptor sewers would be designed such that they could in total take up to approximately 750,000 (to be confirmed by consultants studies). This possible “over-sizing” will be to ensure adequate capacity (the marginal cost of reasonable over-sizing of a pipeline is small compared with future possible future abandonment and relaying). This would seem to be a pragmatic way forward in sewer rehabilitation planning for Alex. although efforts should be made to determine the existing population more accurately. Reasonably up to date aerial photography is available as a basis for this. In addition to consideration of the new interceptor sewers (secondary system) consideration will also need to be given to the tertiary system (connections from stands and groups of stands) which must be equally overloaded.
Improve Backyard Shack Sewerage Arrangements:
If sewer blockages are to be minimized in the future, and if sewers are to be maintained, there would appear to be little alternative to improving both backyard shack configurations and sewer alignments.
Alternatives to Chemical Toilets:
The EMLC is currently constructing some new ablution blocks in Alex. and there would appear to be a need for further toilet blocks or other sanitation options to replace the existing separate banks of chemical toilets which give a poor level of service at a high management cost.
Alexandra Settlement. The township of Alexandra (Figure 15), located outside of Johannesburg, South Africa, is a prime example of an informal settlement that suffers from issues caused by stormwater runoff and flooding. With a population estimate of 180,000 to 750,000 people, it is severely overpopulated.