Toti residents are urged to report wastewater faults timeously to effect a speedy response, after it took municipal workers two weeks to repair a faulty sewage line.
“On Thursday afternoon, 24 March we were alerted to a blocked wastewater line from Trevor Watley Place along Wessex Drive towards Winklespruit, which had apparently been a point of concern for the last two weeks,” said ward 97 councillor, Andre Beetge.
Faced with resource challenges in relation to the Easter long weekend and the topography of the line running in thick bush along the bottom of an incline, an emergency cutting crew was contracted to clear bush on Friday morning to afford a clean-up crew access to a series of manholes located at 80m intervals.
“Having allegedly sighted a large snake, the crew abandoned site, negating access to the line,” said Cllr Beetge.
Attempts to gain access from nearby residential premises proved futile and with hoses being too short to work off road level, the operation was temporarily called off on Sunday, 27 March.
Following a meeting with senior officials, a different cutting crew was contracted on Tuesday, 29 March and bush clearing commenced on Wednesday.
“Several bags of lime were dispersed into the stream while a clean-up crew started inspecting the first five manholes. The cause was tree roots which had grown inside the pipe.”
Management officials apologised for what appeared to be delayed action to properly address the situation and assured residents that such situations will be treated with priority.
“Residents are requested to alert our office timely on 031-903-8930 when the municipality fails to react within a reasonable time of their reporting a complaint. A reference number is also essential. It is extremely difficult to follow up and secure the desired outcome when it is only brought to our attention well after the fact or outside of normal business hours, when departments only operate emergency crews,” said Cllr Beetge.
