Country View still plagued by sewage spills
Sewage from ill-repaired sewage pipe suspected to be the cause of pollution at the Sandpan
The Baloyi family of Country View excitedly watched how Nape Madiseng, project manager for the Department of Water and Sanitation, led a team to finally fix a leaking sewage pipe on April 26 that has led to their garden and the home being flooded with raw sewage.
The moment was, however, short-lived and the family was left disappointed when the replacement pipe was the incorrect size, resulting in the sewage spilling into an excavated hole.
On December 13 last year contractors working at the building site of the new Rynfield Reservoir struck a sewage pipe whilst digging trenches to lay stormwater drainage pipes.
“It has taken the Ekurhuleni metro more than four months to repair this pipe. It may no longer be flooding residents’ homes but it still leaking. The problem is still there,” said Ricky Coelho, chairman of the Country View Residents Association.
“Due to the metro’s tardiness in properly repairing the pipe and draining the sewage from the hole into the stormwater drains, the Sandpan is now polluted.”
According to Coelho, the remains of six indigenous birds and three carp have been found at the pan.
He said that the CoE has been notified and an independent water management service has collected samples to establish to what extent the pan has been contaminated.
Coelho said that residents’ health and natural jewels, such as the pan, are suffering due to the metro’s lack of service delivery.
“We pride ourselves in ensuring that the estate is safe and neat for every member of the community,” said Coelho.
“At one end we now have a contaminated pan and on the other a family home that has suffered extensive damage due to sewage, which has still not been tended to. To what extent must the infrastructure collapse before they start acting swiftly and thoroughly?”
At the time of publication, no comment had been received from the metro.
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