Broken Hibiscus Place pipe sees sewage leak into Warners stream for weeks

RAW sewage has flushed directly into the stream alongside Winifred Close from a home in Hibiscus Place, Warner Beach for at least more than a month, despite the city’s department knowing about the situation.

A broken sewer pipe, which was reported to eThekwini Municipality in May, remained untouched when the Sun visited the site earlier this week, despite complaints made by concerned residents and initial site inspections being carried out by council workers.

The stench of raw sewage in the vicinity was overwhelming. On Wednesday, 4 July the departments finally arrived on site to begin repairs after the Sun advised the ward councillor of the unrepaired status of the sewage fault.

The broken pipe, among other defective municipal property, was spotted on 17 May by local patrol groups who reported the matter to the city on 23 May. A reference number of #F180523-1101 was given to the resident who reported the matter.

“The break is at the site where it should join into the main pipe which runs into the Winklespruit River, parallel to Winifred Close,” said the irate community member, who asked to remain unnamed.

The broken sewer pipe that should be joining to the main, which runs in its concrete casing through the stream alongside Winifred Close:

When the patrol group first stumbled on the breakage, they were disgusted to see raw sewage flow directly from a Hibiscus Place home into the river when a toilet was flushed. For more than a month, this constant source of sewage has infested the stream, posing harm to the environment.

Members of the patrol group believe the broken sewer pipe may have been an outcome of the 10 October storm last year.

Another property, in Redin Lane which has a boundary close to the Winifred Close stream, seemed to have had its sewer pipe tampered with. When the Sun visited the site on Tuesday, 3 July, an opened manhole revealed a sewer pipe inside, which had had its rodding eye cover removed. It was said this would allow overflowing sewage to enter the manhole and drain away with the stormwater into the nearby stream, instead of spewing up through the lowest toilet on the property.

This issue was reported to the city department by Cllr Andre Beetge when he visited the site himself some weeks ago.

A walk upstream revealed several unresolved maintenance issues, which regular inspections of the sewage network would have uncovered and shown worthy of repair. It could be debated as to whose responsibility this is – the home owner or the municipality. As the broken pipe falls outside a property boundary, it could be assumed that the municipality would be responsible for repairs, and also for locating faults in the first place.

After the Sun queried the matter with Cllr Beetge, he was astounded that it had not been seen to by the respective department as yet.

On Wednesday morning, 4 July he confirmed one of the two issues would be repaired within hours, and the rest within two days.

“I field as many as 160 complaints a day which range from leaves dropping from trees on the verge into a yard, to bird droppings on a porch due to someone feeding birds in a park,” said Cllr Beetge. “It’s impossible to follow up on every department’s reaction or non-response to every enquiry made.

I rely on complainants to alert me if the department fails to react within a reasonable time and also if they then receive no further reaction to their own follow-up enquiries.”

Call Cllr Andre Beetge on 082-718-8137.

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