Raw sewage has been pouring into the Pampoen Spruit through a broken pipe in Randpark Ridge for two years.
Residents Stephen Hall and Chris le Roux say this goes back to 2021 though the smell has become much worse in the past year. That is why they can no longer sit outside in their respective gardens anymore.
“Sometimes my wife and I want to enjoy a glass of wine on the deck but that is impossible now,” Hall said. “We have been here 16 years and it is horrible to see the river like this.” Le Roux said he used to be trusted by families in the complex to take groups of children to walk, play and swim along the river but this has also had to stop.
The leak is near the Beyers Naudé Drive bridge 3km southwest of where the residents stay in Boskruin, but even so, by the time the water flows past their homes it is dank and murky in some places and a milky colour in others.
Everywhere it stinks. Now and then toilet paper and faecal matter can be seen floating by or collecting on the banks or where the water is shallow.
All this is even worse at the source of the leak, where the residents held their noses as they stepped carefully. The residents had not reported the matter to Johannesburg Water, which deals with sewage leaks, until August this year.
Johannesburg Water spokesperson Nombuso Shabalala was notified of the sewage leak by this publication on August 17 and replied exactly a week later, on August 24, that the entity was aware of it.
She said the leak “falls just on the border of two different depots. Technical teams will attend to the leak by the weekend”.
Ward 134 councillor Devon Steenkamp also confirmed he was aware of the leak and that a community member had reported it to the water utility. However, no residents had asked him to escalate it before now.
“If there is a matter, I would appreciate the community reach out to me and [tell me] if it requires a site inspection so that Joburg Water can be guided on where the leak is,” he said.
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