When going to work in the morning, Wadeville business people in Lamp and Kreupelhout streets must take a deep breath first.
They know they are going to spend the day with the aroma of raw sewage floating on the air.
But, for people at Prodin and Ulric Technologies, the problem is a little closer to home.
Ulric Technologies rents an office from Prodin and the offending, gushing manhole is right next to their offices.
The raw sewage pumps out unabated behind the office and has started creeping around the side of the building, as well.
The sewage runs into Lamp Street, causing huge traffic problems, as it adds to the growing potholes in the street.
It then runs into a vlei which, Cynthia Struwig, from Prodin, said, leads to the Rondebult Bird Sanctuary.
It has a terrible smell and is a health hazard.
Struwig has reported the problem to the metro numerous times; the first time was on May 26, but to no avail.
The sewage continues to flow from the manhole and the potholes in the street get worse.
Struwig even went as far as contacting her ward councillor, Michael Kriek, about the matter, as well as the mayor’s office.
Kriek has contacted all the relevant metro departments for assistance, but, to date, no one has bothered to fix the problem.
“I get promises from them but nothing is done,” said Kriek.
“I am continuing to follow-up on a daily basis, to try to have the problems sorted out, as the raw sewage is flowing into the vlei and the road is becoming impassable.”
Karl du Plessis, from Ulric Technologies, said he has also reported the situation numerous times.
“This is not the first time this has happened,” he said.
“About three months ago we had the same problem, but it was sorted out and the metro came and cleaned-up the area.
“I am worried that the wall is going to fall down due to the continual flow of water and the vehicles in the street driving on the pavement, close to the wall, and weakening the ground there, in order to avoid the potholes in the road.
“Many vehicles have been damaged going through the potholes and a number of trucks have even lost their loads in the sewage.”
Struwig added that even though she calls the metro on a daily basis nothing is being done about the problem.
“They haven’t even bothered to send someone to have a look,” she said.
The GCN has also asked the metro for comment a number of times but, at the time of going to press, none had been forthcoming.
