IMPACT ASSESSMENT CASE STUDIES

FROM SOUTHERN AFRICA

David Parry, Ecosurv

Client:
Botswana Meat Commission

SAIEA

Southern African Institute for Environmental Assessment

... working for a better Africa

RETROSPECTIVE EIA OF THE LOBATSE ABATTOIR,

BOTSWANA

David Parry, Ecosurv

Client:
Botswana Meat Commission

RETROSPECTIVE EIA OF THE LOBATSE ABATTOIR, BOTSWANA

Aims of the Project

Brief description of the development

The Botswana Meat Commissions (BMC) abattoir

in Lobatse is the major livestock processing
facility in Botswana and has been operating since
1952. The abattoir was established before the
requirements for EIA and has expanded steadily
over time increasing its throughput and services.
The Botswana 2005 EIA Act had a specific section
requiring existing major industries and mines to
comply with the Act and undertake retrospective
EIAs. This approach has allowed the identification
of impacts from existing operations and
establishment of environmental management plans
to address the impacts identified.

The BMC abattoir is located in southern Botswana

in the town of Lobatse. The facility is designed

for a throughput of 170,000 cattle per annum, but

has in recent years operated below full capacity.

Figure 1: Layout of the Lobatse Abattoir (image from Google)

SAIEA 2009

David Parry, Ecosurv

Client:
Botswana Meat Commission

RETROSPECTIVE EIA OF THE LOBATSE ABATTOIR, BOTSWANA

Brief description of the development
During the period 1990-2006 the abattoir
slaughtered in the range of 80,000 to just over
120,000 cattle per annum.
The slaughtering process consists of the following
activities, which are carried out in different areas
of the abattoir:

Off-loading (receiving) and lairage (penning);

Stunning and sticking;

Hoof, head and hide removal and evisceration;

Red and rough offal sorting and removal;

Carcass halving and cold storage; and

By-products handling which includes skin

storage and rendering.

In general it takes between 3 and 3.9 m 3 of water

for each animal slaughtered. This leads to about
2 m 3 of waste water rich in blood, fats and solids
and 0.02 m 3 of paunch contents per slaughtered
animal being disposed of at the waste water
treatment works (WWTW).

SAIEA 2009

Figure 2: Layout of the existing abattoir waste water treatment works (image from Google)

David Parry, Ecosurv

Client:
Botswana Meat Commission

RETROSPECTIVE EIA OF THE LOBATSE ABATTOIR, BOTSWANA

Brief description
of the development
The BMC Abattoir Waste Water Treatment Works
was established in 1978, 26 years after the abattoir
started. It is not recorded how the abattoir effluent
was treated or disposed of prior to the construction
of the WWTW. Before a tannery was set up in
Lobatse, all hides produced by the abattoir were
salt-cured on site and sold to the South African
market.
Effluent is currently piped from the abattoir to
the WWTW where it is screened and then
discharged into a series of three anaerobic (AnO2)
ponds. It is pumped to bio-filters and then, via
clarifiers, flows to a holding pond. Final effluent
from this holding pond is pumped to the Lobatse
Town Council sewage works. The Meat
Commission owns the land on which the abattoir
and treatment works falls.

SAIEA 2009

Environmental setting
Biophysical environment
Lobatse is situated in the flat bottomed valley of
the ephemeral Peleng River and its tributaries.
Ten kilometres downstream from Lobatse the river
turns to the east and flows towards and eventually
into the Notwane River in South Africa, which is
one of the main feeder rivers for the Gaborone
Dam. The valley floor upon which most of the
town is situated is at about 1,200 m above sea
level with the surrounding hills rising to over
1400 m.
Socio-economic environment
Lobatse is one of the oldest towns in Botswana,
situated some 70 km south of Gaborone, close to
the border with South Africa. The agro-based
industries in Lobatse dominate the manufacturing
sector, with beef processing employing a
substantial number of the population in this town.
Other companies such as Lobatse Tiles, Lobatse
Clay works, sugar packaging industries, brewery
and milling contribute significantly to the
development of this town. The area occupied by
the town is approximately 40 km 2 and it is
surrounded by freehold farms.

The population of Lobatse is estimated to increase

to 31,000 by 2011 although the rate of growth
has declined from 6% (pre-1981) to 1.3% due to
emigration to other economic centres. The youth
(10-29 years old) account for almost half of the
towns population, putting considerable pressure
on the labour market.
The low-income areas of Peleng, Tsopeng and
Woodhall are not connected to the towns
sewerage system. As a result a quarter of the
households in the town use pit latrines. Where
services are available, the effluent waste is piped
to the council treatment works. Companies with
a heavy pollution load are required to
establishment a pre-treatment facility. BMC has
established such a pre-treatment plant to ensure
that the outflow meets the standards for effluent
disposal into sewerage systems. A trade effluent
agreement is in place.
Solid waste collection is the responsibility of the
Environmental Health Department of the Lobatse
Town Council (LTC). About 75% of the
households in Lobatse have a regular waste
collection service from the LTC. Most solid wastes
are disposed of at the council landfill.

David Parry, Ecosurv

Client:
Botswana Meat Commission

RETROSPECTIVE EIA OF THE LOBATSE ABATTOIR, BOTSWANA

Environmental setting
The Lobatse Town Council is responsible for the
management of the landfill and incinerator and
for the wastewater treatment works. The landfill
was established in 1994 and has an incinerator.
Due to the break down of equipment and the
incinerator, the landfill now appears to operate
as a dumpsite. The wastewater treatment works
uses the pond technology, and its outflow is used
for irrigation of lucerne (Figure 2 and 3).

Figure 3: Location of the key abattoir facilities within the Lobatse town environment
Nearly all of the urban population has full access
to piped or tapped potable water. The main sources
of water for households are private connections

SAIEA 2009

and to a lesser extent communal standpipes which

are being phased out.

David Parry, Ecosurv

Client:
Botswana Meat Commission

RETROSPECTIVE EIA OF THE LOBATSE ABATTOIR, BOTSWANA

Environmental setting
Meetings were convened with both members of
the public and selected government officers.
Notices for the meetings were placed in local
newspapers in both Setswana and English. The
initial public meeting was poorly attended and,
due to the importance of the EIA, the councillor
requested a further public meeting. The additional
public meeting allowed for far greater public
mobilisation.
Key concerns raised by the public were that
opportunities to re-use fly ash, cow dung and fats
were not being used, and that fly ash was being
disposed on in undesignated areas. Unexpectedly
there were no complaints of smell relating to the
rendering plant.
Unfortunately the public was unable to
differentiate between the abattoir operation and
the tannery operation. Public sentiment ran
strongly against the tannery (blamed for high
smell levels and pollution loads) whilst it was
positive towards the abattoir.

EIA process followed

Stakeholders all emphasised the importance of
the abattoir to the towns economy.The support
of the abattoir for local football was strongly
appreciated.

The BMC Lobatse abattoir, although fairly old,

has only relatively low to moderate environmental
and social impacts, this is largely due to the
facility meeting stringent EU standards.
Positive
BMC has 750 employees. Earnings by staff were
in the range of P40 to 70 million (including
retrenchment benefits) in the period 2005-2006.
During the period 2000-2006 BMC paid between
P100 to 200 million to livestock farmers
(producers) with an average of P124.6 million.
At the national level, beef is an important export
product for Botswana. In 2006, BMC exported
P328 million worth of beef and P35.8 million
worth of other cattle products. It is estimated that
around P200 million is associated with the Lobatse
abattoir and cannery (i.e. 55%).
BMC has also contributed significantly towards
sports development in Lobatse and at national
level.

Key persons had specific concerns such as

potential and past impacts on groundwater, lack
of past consultation and attention to complaints.

SAIEA 2009

David Parry, Ecosurv

Client:
Botswana Meat Commission

RETROSPECTIVE EIA OF THE LOBATSE ABATTOIR, BOTSWANA

EIA process followed
Negative
Emissions
Air emissions from the abattoir site are flue gases
from the boiler, rendering plant and incinerator,
and odours and water vapour from the cooling
plant. From the waste water treatment works there
are odorous gases from the effluent, as well as
carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) and methane (CH 4 ) from
anaerobic ponds.
Liquid Waste
Maintenance and upkeep of treatment units and
the property was neglected in the past, resulting
in clogging up of the works with screenings and
sludge. Pollution occurred in Peleng River due to
overflow and seepage of raw and partially treated
effluent from the screens, fuels, oil and grease
(FOG) and sludge pits. Pollution of groundwater
(Woodland Aquifers) has probably occurred in
the past due to operation of the water treatment
works. The lack of monitoring of effluent flows
and absence of groundwater monitoring points
between the ponds and the river makes it difficult
to pinpoint problems and identify solutions.
Chemicals at the abattoir are used for analysing
meat and meat products for quality assurance.

SAIEA 2009

Once used, they are poured into empty containers

and stored at ambient temperature. There is no
exclusive place for storage. Sometimes used
chemicals are neutralised and disposed down the
drains.
Solid waste
Most of the solid waste generated by the abattoir
is conveyed off-site by wastewater, with the
exception of fly ash from the boilers. Other types
of solid wastes include lairage (faecal matter) and
wastes produced during carcass processing and
offal handling. Solid waste from the abattoir is
transported to the LTC landfill site for disposal.
It was noticed during the EIA that there are no
licences for waste carriers that transport solid
waste. Solid waste at the WWTW is made up of
screenings, sludge and FOG scraped from the
anaerobic ponds. Sludge disposal from the primary
anaerobic ponds was observed to be disposed of
in pits adjacent to the primary ponds and the
Peleng River.

The environmental impacts of the WWTW relate

mainly to the lack of monitoring by the individual
operational sections of resource use and
discharges/waste production. Although the
WWTW is located in the middle of town, it is
surrounded by undeveloped land and riverine
habitats. As a result the social impacts/concerns
are low. Social concerns relate to ease of public
access and the potential health problems associated
with biological material disposal.
Past management of the works effluent, prior to
discharge to the LTC treatment works, probably
is the cause of the saline pollution of the
Woodlands Aquifer. The salinity probably came
from salt drying of hides prior to the tannery
establishing its own evaporation ponds.
Indications are that this aquifer is now slowly
recovering.

There was concern for the survival of a small

(subsistence) brick making industry which was
reliant on the availability of fly ash produced by
the abattoir boilers.

David Parry, Ecosurv

Client:
Botswana Meat Commission

RETROSPECTIVE EIA OF THE LOBATSE ABATTOIR, BOTSWANA

Environmental setting
Polluted wastewater is however still entering the
Peleng River through seepage coming from three
main sources:
(1) P u m p i n g o f w a s t e w a t e r a n d s l u d g e
and disposal of fats, oils and grease into
the sludge pits which are unlined pits in
the river alluvium.
(2) S p i l l a g e f r o m c l o g g e d c o m p o n e n t s o f
the treatment works such as the screen
and clarifiers.
(3) Surface wash and percolation of rainfall
through the screening waste material,
which then enters the Peleng River.
Since all local aquifers are now polluted, Lobatse
is now supplied water from the North-South Water
Carrier. Any further pollution into the Woodlands
Aquifer will limit recovery of this important
resource.

Figure 4: Computer-simulated view of Lobatse town showing important features of the abattoir
and waste management systems.

SAIEA 2009

David Parry, Ecosurv

Client:
Botswana Meat Commission

RETROSPECTIVE EIA OF THE LOBATSE ABATTOIR, BOTSWANA

Environmental setting

Decision-making process

Cumulative

During the EIA public review period, the Draft

EIA was placed on the website of the
environmental authority and hard copies were
available at the town council and BMC facilities.
One appeal was made by an affected party located
downsteam along the Peleng River and downslope
of the LTC waste water treatment facility which
houses the tannery evaporation ponds.

Pollution of the groundwater is a result of

cumulative impacts from town development, pit
latrines, tannery and abattoir operations. Similarly
high odour levels in Lobase are a combination of
the abattoir rendering plant, abattoir waste water
treatment works, tannery pre-treatment and
tannery ponds and the council water works, all of
which are either within the urban environment or
immediately upwind of the town.

The appeal, which was the result of a review of

the EIA findings, related to potential pollution
from the tannery evaporation ponds into the
aquifer used by the affected party. This concern
was shown to be unfounded as monitoring
boreholes surrounding the ponds indicated no
pollution of groundwater and the ponds were
checked for integrity of the liner. No further
appeals were registered.

Implementation of the EMP

& compliance auditing
The retrospective EIA was used to prepare a
detailed EMP. The plan has been steadily
implemented and the following carried out:
Within a short period the corporation hired an
Environmental Health and Safety officer, began
registration of facilities requiring emission or
discharge permits, and began upgrading the
management and facilities of the waste water
treatment works. Monitoring of these efforts will
be important to ensure that the momentum is
maintained.

The abattoir management accepted the findings

of the EIA and moved immediately to address the
concerns and EMP requirements.

SAIEA 2009

David Parry, Ecosurv

Client:
Botswana Meat Commission

RETROSPECTIVE EIA OF THE LOBATSE ABATTOIR, BOTSWANA

Main elements of excellence
in this EIA
The main elements that contributed to the success
of the EIA were:

Commitment of BMC to the EIA process

Structure of the EIA team, which included

social and stakeholder engagement specialists,
hydrogeology, hydrology and environmental
specialists, an environmental engineer and a
waste water specialist.

The preparation of an EMP to guide

implementation of the suggested mitigations
was crucial to successful implementation
of the findings.

Lessons learnt
The EIA clearly shows that there is an important
role for retrospective EIAs. Such assessments do
not have to be confrontational, rather they should
be a guide to getting a facility on track to
compliance, as in an audit. The difference in using
a retrospective EIA rather than an audit is the
opportunity to identify and investigate impacts
arising from failure to comply with legal
requirements. A second major advantage of
retrospective EIA is the legal requirement for
public consultation, which is critical to identifying
issues and impacts already experienced by the
public and key stakeholders.

As the situation changed and proportionally fewer

persons benefited from the abattoir, public
tolerance to negative impacts dropped. The public,
though, acknowledged the social contribution of
the abattoir to football development within
Lobatse, which indicates how effective corporate
social responsibility programmes are.

It was also found that the physical surroundings

of industrial sites change over time, and often
unsuitable or conflicting land use developments
are established. This emphasises the need for
industrial processes to adapt and comply to new
constraints.
A good understanding of the history of
development of the facility was critical to
understanding the impacts and the socio-political
climate of the interested and affected parties. How
the facility interacted with the public in the past,
how it addressed their concerns, and its social

SAIEA 2009

programmes, all greatly influenced how the pubic

were prepared to tolerate impacts. When the
abattoir was the main industry in Lobatse, public
tolerance was high and few public representatives
raised concerns.

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