Yard of Sea Cow Lake business submerged in wastewater

A SEA COW LAKE Road business is facing the need to write off hundreds of thousands of rands worth of stock because of an ongoing sewage overflow.

Wind Motors, a business dealing in second-hand spares, has been dealing with a large portion of its business premises being submerged in raw sewage.

The overflow problem, which began in May this year, is believed to be linked to a blocked sewerage pipe.

Eddie Ramsewak, who manages the business, said the overflow has also meant that staff and customers have to walk along a makeshift platform made up of spare tyres and other spare parts to access the toilet at the back of the property.

WATCH: Sea Cow Lake Road businesses submerged in sewage

Ramsewak said the situation is untenable and unhygienic and has led to his and his staff’s poor health.

“We have to work daily in this space. There are masses of flies, and the stink from the sewage is unbearable. The overflow seems to subside on the weekends, but come Monday, it rises. The fear is that wastewater will continue to spread and spoil more of our stock. This is crippling to our business. There was a similar situation with two other companies farther down the line, and they, too, lost hundreds of thousands in revenue.

“The problem definitely started soon after the floods in May this year. We knew it wasn’t our toilet as we’d never had this problem until now. We contacted the eThekwini Municipality, and to their credit, they did come out. After using a wire to test if there was a blockage, they determined there was a blockage in the sewerage network behind our property. The contractor said he would come back to clear the blockage, and two weeks passed by, but nothing happened. When I followed up on the reference number, I was told the problem had been ‘resolved’. Since then, we have had no luck helping fix this unhygienic situation,” he said.

Ramsewak added that he and the four other staff members were constantly getting sick from the leaks.