White River sewage spills ‘a problem that is not being addressed’
A frustrated community insists the frequent sewer spillages are caused by poor maintenance by the City of Mbombela, and that the system needs serious upgrades.
The frequent sewage overflows present a health hazard for the residents of White River and the White River Ratepayers Association (WRRA) is again calling on the City of Mbombela (CoM) to intervene.
The WRRA’s former chairperson, Pierre du Preez, says the overflowing sewerage affects the town’s water reserves.
He also added that the constant leaks in the water network system are another source of overflowing sewers, because they need water to flow.
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Du Preez says the current spills are because of poor maintenance by the CoM and old infrastructure.
“If we run out of water, the sewerage system gets clogged up and then overflows at various points. Current overflow problems have mostly to do with blockages of old sewerage systems. We have not seen any proper upgrades planned for it or the water reticulation problems, with the main feeding line being an asbestos cement pipe. This is serious neglect of infrastructure and non-commitment by the CoM. There are lots of promises on our integrated development plan [IDP], but they simply get passed over every year,” Du Preez said.
ALSO READ: Months-long water issues the final straw for White River residents
The ward councillor in the area, Rowan Torr, said the CoM obviously sees no urgency in combatting sewage pollution.
“The frequent spillages in and around the residential areas are quickly attended to by a dedicated team from the CoM, but there are serious spillages in town leading to the Primkop Dam that are neglected or given to subcontractors who do a poor job at the expense of the ratepayers. The permanent solution to this sewage problem is to upgrade the entire line from Coltshill, the main pump station at Tafelberg Street, and to make gravity feed it all the way to our waste treatment plant, to which the municipality has just made upgrades, to the value of R10m. The contract has been delayed so many times because council has not paid the contractor on time,” Torr said.
He also said the only Jetta high-pressure machine unit used to blast the sewerage lines clear of sand, tree roots and foreign bodies has been abandoned at the repairer’s premises in Indus Street in White River.
“We should have had a replacement Jetta machine as part of our IDP needs analysis of 2022, but it falls on deaf ears,” he said.
The CoM’s spokesperson, Joseph Ngala, acknowledged Lowvelder’s media enquiry and said he was awaiting a response from the municipality’s technical department responsible for water and sanitation.
However, he had not responded by the time this was published.
