A blocked drain leaking raw sewage into the Ferndale Spruit was fixed after a resident placed a call to his ward councillor.
Concerned resident, Keith Levenstein informed Joburg Water of the problem twice.
The leak on Rugby Road started on 2 January and was left unresolved until 20 January.
Levenstein said, “Joburg Water came onto my premises two weeks ago and sent their rods down to investigate the blockage.
Joburg Water said the blockage was too thick and they needed to use another manhole.
The inspectors tried a drain nearby without success and said they needed to access the Ferndale reserve.
“Then they said that they needed to get into my neighbour’s property. Each time they told me that I must open the gate for them. Try as I might, I do not have a key for the reserve or for my neighbour’s property.”
On 18 January, Joburg Water told Levenstein that they had been into his neighbour’s property and needed a construction team to rectify the problem.
After Levenstein queried the problem with his ward councillor, Mike Wood, the problem was rectified after Wood contacted Joburg Water.
Wood said, “I told Joburg Water about the problem and they promised they would attend to the matter soonest. I really appreciate the work that Joburg Water does and I believe that the Randburg team are great.”
The problem was rectified the next day.
Levenstein added, “It is still dirty around the area, but I am happy that there is no leak anymore. I just cannot understand why we have to go to the extent of alerting our ward councillors to query a problem, this is something that should have been fixed immediately.”
ALSO READ: Who is your ward councillor?
