A LEAKING sewage pipe at the Oxford Village in Hillcrest has resulted in three weeks worth of raw faeces floating in a dam at the bottom of the centre killing all the fish and polluting the air.
Gareth Brown, who runs a sports academy a few feet away from the polluted dam, said the eThekwini Municipality has been notified of the problem.
Also read: Malvern man’s death remains a mystery: Desmond Roberts’ mum still in the dark
“Less than a month ago, a sewage pipe was blocked and it took the municipality almost a month to attend to it and, what makes the matters worse, is that all the raw sewage has found its way to the bottom of the centre and into the dam,” he explained.
The matter was reported to the municipality by centre management.
According to Brown, it is the municipality’s responsibility to fix the sewer and clean up the damage caused and the best way to solve the problem is to drain the water.
“I work with children and the smell and visible raw sewage is a distraction to the kids and is a health hazard. They spend most of the training time covering their noses,” Brown said.
The dam in question is a man-made addition to an already existing wetland, a natural habitat for many fish and birds, including geese. Brown also highlighted that all the fish have died and the Egyptian geese and bird life have left the dam.
Brown’s business was not the only one affected, The Keg, a restaurant not far from the dam, has also had difficulty keeping the stench away from the customers.
“We have to close the blinds even in the hottest of days just to try avoid the wind blowing in the bad stench. We even went as far as putting scented candles on the tables,” Keg’s general manager, Jarod Lee said.
Oxford Village owner, Brett Latimer, said the municipality has dragged its feet with this matter. “It took them weeks to fix the sewer pipes and now its taking them ages to fix the damage caused,” he said.
The Highway Mail asked the municipality for comment but did not receive a response at the time of going to press. However, an official from the Pinetown Water and Sanitation contacted the Highway Mail on Friday, 21 June requesting more details on the matter and promised the issue will be fixed by the end of the day.
According to Brown there were no changes to the terrible, putrid situation.
Do you want to receive alerts regarding this and other Highway community news via Telegram? Send us a Telegram message (not an SMS) with your name and surname (ONLY) to 060 532 5409.
You can also join the conversation on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
PLEASE NOTE: If you have signed up for our news alerts you need to save the Telegram number as a contact to your phone, otherwise you will not receive our alerts.
Here’s where you can download Telegram.
s.
