Still no idea on where the bad smell is coming from

THERE is still no clarity as to the source of the bad smell that residents of Glenwood and Umbilo have been experiencing in recent weeks.

Since first publishing an article in the Berea Mail about the smell, more people have come forward and expressed various opinions on what the source of the smell might be. Resident Elizabeth Gage believes it is the storm water drains that haven’t been cleaned for 22 years.

“There are dead animals and rotting vegetation and other junk stopping them up. Why do you think that when it rains, the roads look like rivers?”

“The drains are so blocked that that the water has nowhere to go, so it follows that methane gas is escaping from the drains. While the roads are busy you do not notice it because the wind created by the traffic dissipates it, but when there is no traffic it hangs about,” she said.

ALSO READ: Glenwood, Umbilo residents urged to report bad smell

Bernie O’Brien is of the opinion that the smell comes from vagrants burning plastic off the copper wire in the old, dilapidated Umbilo Sports Club and in the park across the road. “Its poisonous like fumes waft through the air in most of the Genwood/Umbilo area,” he said.

The City has also been unable to pinpoint the exact location of the smell and when responding to questions from the Berea Mail, eThekwini’s communication department replied: “Where exactly is the smell coming from? Glenwood and Umbilo are big areas, we need a location,” it said.

ALSO READ: Rotting rubbish causes a stink

Glenwood resident Barbara Wood, who first reported the smell to the Berea Mail said she had been living on and off with her sister over the past year and said the smell was similar to the toxic smell upper highway residents have complained about that allegedly emanate from the EnviroServ landfill site in Shongweni.

“It started on 16 May at about 11pm and the following night from about midnight to 2am. I looked it up on the internet to check if there is an EnviroServ on the South Coast because we cannot allow what is happening in Hillcrest to happen here,” she said.

Durban South Community Environmental Alliance spokesperson Desmond D’Sa said similar complaints had been received from residents in the Bluff over the past few weeks.

“I have complained on the Jacobs area to Peter Roberts of the eThekwini environmental health department. Residents must call the emergency call centre on 031-3610000 on the weekends and evening to log a complaint and request a reference number. They can then forward that to either me at desmond@sdceango.co.za or to my colleague Bongani at bongani@sdceango.co.za,” he said.

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