Spill causes a stink in Westmead industrial area

ETHEKWINI Municipality has once again urged the public to stop throwing foreign objects into the sewerage system which they say results in major blockages.

This plea comes after a sewage spill in an industrial area in Gillitts Road, Westmead which has been attended to on numerous occasions.

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Business owner, Klaus Fritsch said this has been an ongoing issue for almost a year now.

“Plumbers come and fix it and then the manhole boils up again just after a few weeks,” he said.

Fritsch said it was unacceptable for them to endure the smell which permeates the area. What’s more the overflowing sewage also flows into his storeroom.

The sewage boils up from the manhole then makes its way into the road drainage systems eventually landing in the Umbilo River.

“I just wish someone could just get to the root of this problem, we can not continue working like this, our property is forever submerged with sewage,” said another business owner, Jeremy Louw.

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eThekwini Municipality’s spokesman, Msawakhe Mayisela said a team will be sent out to investigate the sewer issue again.

According to Mayisela, sewer blockages do not happen spontaneously without a cause and plumbers have been called out to attend to the sewer issues in this area on numerous occasions.

“Our plumbers always find that there are foreign objects causing these blockages. Again, we reiterate, that what is compounding our woes is that some members of the public continue to dispose of foreign objects into the system resulting in it to block.”

Mayisela said the City does receive reports of manhole blockages from time to time and its responds to them, “but within a short space of time we find ourselves having to go back to square one.

For us to be able to win the war against blocking manholes, we need to work together unceasingly by heading all the calls made by the Municipality to residents to refrain from dumping foreign objects into the system,” he said.

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