eThekweni ignores overflowing sewage in Umhlanga

eThekwini has been ignoring an overflowing sewerage system since the April floods.

The sewage is flowing into Durban rivers and the oHlanga Lagoon in Umhlanga.

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Ward 35 DA councillor Nicole Bollman said she has been reporting the overflow to the municipality since April.

My ward is an end product of a failed system. The situation has not changed. This started during the floods but the lack of energy in resolving this issue is disturbing. We are being stonewalled by eThekwini.

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She said getting past the exclusion zone around the oHlanga Lagoon has been, as many residents and beachgoers will know, quite tricky.

On Friday there was a sewage spill not far from the Oyster Box Hotel, but this has since been fixed, according to Bollman.

“I was thankfully included in the initial team who ventured down on Friday last week, on an oversight visit regarding the plastic waste.

“The stench of sewage down there was obviously a lot worse than when traversing the bridge … so today I went ‘sewage hunting’.

“Thankfully, for the most part, barring two pump stations where we have rising main issues and are currently waiting for the city to finalise the contract, our almost 13 sewage pump stations in our ward are functional and effluent travels safely away from our residential infrastructure towards the wastewater treatment plant further up river,” she said.

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She said it is what happens in between these two points where the wheels have come off completely.

“My first stop was at the bottom of the new Balwin Development in Izinga, where the force of the waste water was so incredibly strong as it cascaded out of the rather large manhole, down the hill straight into the oHlanga River.

“My second stop was to the sewage pump station on the Blackburn Village side of the N2. Although visually nothing like what I saw in 2019, there was still a substantial amount of water pushing up from below the slab, along a channel into a storm water drain, directly into the oHlanga River.

“Our natural water courses and beaches are under siege. Our businesses and pretty much the last tradable commodity in eThekwini — tourism — are completely under threat.”

eThekwini spokesperson Msawakhe Mayisela said the city was not aware of the sewer overflow.

We have been in touch with the ward councillor and the relevant department will send a team to attend to the blockage.

Residents took to social media talking about the “putrid” stench emanating from the sewer.

Jacqueline Freer said from the bridge on the M4, between Umhlanga and Umdloti, where the river lies stagnant and is not washing into the sea, the stench is unbearable.

Nothing seems to be done about this and, with every warm day in Durban, it gets worse.
The state of Glenashley Beach, since the floods, is beyond sad to see.
Such litter, rubbish and filth … and nothing ever gets cleared.

“Also, stagnant water where kids once played, and this was such a frequented beach with families after work, now it is dangerous in terms of filth and bacteria. I attempted to walk along the Umgeni River and the Blue Lagoon, and it literally smelt like a sewerage tank,” said Freer.