Residents protest against unbearable sewer smell

MEREWENT residents, armed with placards, took to the corner of Badullah Drive and Tara Road in protest recently.

Led by the South Durban Community Environmental Alliance (SDCEA), the aim was to make a noise about the unbearable smell that comes from Southern Waste Water Treatment Works (SWWTW).

SDCEA’s air quality officer, Bongani Mthembu, said the community of Merebank suffers the most. He said liaising with the management of the plant is good because they’re able to ask them directly what their plans for the community are.

“The last meeting we had was last month which was held virtually, it was inclusive of residents as well. Anyone who wanted to join in was allowed to and engage with management directly,” he said.

He added that it was their fourth picket they’ve had regarding this issue, only this time, they did not intend of handing out a memorandum.

“The last time we tried that, nobody was there to meet us at the gate. In fact, they closed the gates on us. We then decided to it email them a few days after that picket but there was no response to date.

“However, there is a management order plan that was established by SWWTW. Whenever we have these online meetings, we go according to that and tick boxes as we go along,” he said.

Mthembu said management had also told him that the budget to address the issues keeps being redirected elsewhere by the city as it does see this matter as an issue of priority. He said the council does not understand that this plant is one of the biggest in Durban.

“This is why most of the tankers bring in waste from other areas to dump there. Basically, the pipes from other areas connect to the plant in addition to the trucks bringing in loads.

“The plant cannot maintain the pressure, it is old and there is a lot of technical failures that happen. As a result, the Merebank community bears the brunt to put up with the smell of faeces on a daily basis. They cannot enjoy their meals properly as the smell is in the air every day depending on the wind direction.

“If it blows towards the north, the people in the south would have better air quality on that day and vice versa. They have deodorises as a means of reducing odours, but they don’t make any difference because they are expected to work against very strong sewer smells.

“The smell is stronger than the deodorisers – it doesn’t do the job. I say let us forget about them and fix the problem. The most horrible smell comes when they’ve offloaded their trucks.

“After they’ve pumped the sewer through its outlet into the ocean, the sludge that stays behind is what makes for unbearable conditions in the community. The heat hits the sludge and it becomes really bad,” he said.

A comment from the municipality was not received at the time of publication.