Leeuwkop project blocks council sewerage system
LEEUWKOP - Residents of Leeuwkop within the proximity of the prison have been subjected to a messy environment by a three-week sewage spillage.
The ward councillor-elect in the area, Annette Deppe said the council was not working fast enough to rescue residents from the foul smell caused by dams of sewage in the area.
“This has been going on for too long and causing discomfort to residents,” she said.
Deppe alleged that the prisoners working on the prison piggery project were allegedly throwing piglet carcasses into the drainage system.
City of Johannesburg’s Stakeholder Relations and Communications manager, Tidimalo Chuene accused Leeuwkop Prison’s piggery section of washing sand, soil and rocks into the council network. “Please note that there was a major blockage on the outfall sewer line due to a sand deposit suspected to be from the Leeuwkop Prison’s piggery section. Sand, soil and rocks are washing into our network due to what seems to be no maintenance of the settlement/sedimentation tanks at the piggery,” said Chuene.
He said the affected pipeline was too big and required more than the normal unblocking methods. “Thus it can only be worked on during off-peak hours and this has been a problem as the line is flowing full 24 hours every day. We currently have a contractor doing clearing on the bottom end of the line to minimise blockage and overflow,” said Chuene.
He could not provide the exact time when the council will manage to fix the problem. He said a lot of sediment has accumulated in their works which needs a lot of time to remove. “It is still difficult to give an exact indication of when the work will be completed, considering that we have released a lot of sediment and sand, however, cleaning will be going on over the next few weeks until the problem is solved,” said Chuene.
Efforts to get a comment from the Leeuwkop Prison officials drew blanks.
