Westbury flats flooded after heavy rains
The stormwater drain project in Ward 82 has been an ongoing project since last year.
The stormwater drain project in Ward 82 has been an ongoing project since last year. According to Ward councillor Susan Stewart, the project started as a result of the flooding after heavy rains and residents from the flats were complaining about the issue.
The instalment of the stormwater drains stretches from the Sophiatown Police Station right into Bosmont to the N1 Highway.
“The water table is rising in the area and this is not a recent problem but one that goes back many years and the reason why that is when they demarcated the area in the apartheid regime, they built townships on very bad land that was already waterlogged so these areas are problematic in nature because of the natural positioning of the areas.”
“One had to now look at how do we solve the problems surrounding the areas because we cannot move everyone out and relocate them because there are also shortages of land with the increase of the population,” said the councillor.
The councillor added that the City has a housing backlog so the stormwater project started so that we can try to alleviate the influx of water in the area.
“They did similar work to this in Bosmont last year. So calvits had to be installed, now these calvits have to tie into each other at some point because it’s a whole system that has been installed over time. What’s currently happening is that there is flooding at the flats off of Styler Street.
“The stormwater drains leading to the clavits are very badly blocked due to many years of neglect and that needs to be addressed so that the water can flow freely into the channels and this way the flooding will be alleviated,” explained Stewart.
On January 21, the councillor had arranged a meeting with officials from Joburg Water, Johannesburg Road Agency and Johannesburg’s Development Agency (JDA) who the project belongs to officials from the Housing Department, and the Department for Environmental Impacts. According to Stewart, the meeting is just to get a holistic approach to the problem.
“We need all these departments on hand so that we can find solutions to the problems that the residents are experiencing,” she added. When asked when the project is scheduled to be completed the councillor said by April, however, there are usually other challenges which delay projects so it is difficult to say the exact date.
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