Sewage leaks plague north Durban

ACTING Durban North ward councillor, Shontel de Boer, is urging residents not to flush foreign items down their toilets as they are causing sewerage pipe clogs.

The clogs occur when waste, debris and other foreign objects make their way down the pipe and create a blockage that can cause a pipe to burst or force raw sewage out of manhole covers.

She was speaking after the latest sewage overflow which occurred on Lancaster Grove recently.

The blockage in the sewerage pipe caused raw sewage to flow out of one of the manhole covers on the road and flood a property.

Over the last two months, Northglen News has reported on several sewage leaks plaguing the area with some residents making use of sewage removal services out of their own pocket due to the matter not being attended to timeously.

Read also: Rehab project set for damaged green zones around M4

Some residents have suggested the City is facing a backlog of cases of up to three months but the City are yet to respond to questions raised over the issues.

“There needs to be an education programme for residents around Durban on what should not be flushed down the toilet. When the City attended to this issue they found nappies, sanitary pads and other foreign objects had caused the blockage and subsequent overflow. My suggestion is for the Ethekwini Municipality Water And Sanitation Department to include pamphlets in post boxes or place them in municipal bills to educate residents.

“The sewage leaks are a City wide problem and one in need of a total overhaul. When the sewerage infrastructure was initially installed it served a few homes but as developments have increased, the infrastructure has not been upgraded to serve that population growth which has resulted in what we are now seeing, ailing infrastructure. Another issue is residents or builders are illegally connecting their stormwater pipes which empties into sewer, further overloading seweage pipes and causing bursts or overflows,” she said.

You may be interested: Park Hill residents in the dark about loadshedding

While the issue on Lancaster Drive has been attended to, some sewage leaks have been ongoing for weeks on end.

De Boer also encouraged residents reporting sewage leaks to insist on getting reference numbers.

“With the reference numbers we are able to follow up on specific queries and escalate matters within the relevant departments,” she said.

You can also sign up for news alerts on Telegram. Send us a Telegram message (not an SMS) with your name and surname (ONLY) to 060 532 5532.