A continuous sewage blockage of a main sewer line is leaving an almost permanent sewage-like odour in parts of Bakerton.
Zahoor Mohamed, a resident of Pintail Close, lives close to the Blesbokspruit, and witnesses raw sewage flowing into this Ramsar site almost every month.
He says Ekurhuleni metro cleans out the the sewer pipe, but it keeps on blocking and bubbles out at the top of Pintail Close.
It usually bubbles up from the manholes and the sewage flows towards the spruit or into the storm water system, leaving layers and layers of sewage debris in the grass between the houses and Blesboskpruit.
The last big blockage was for six weeks in December and January when the raw sewage streamed into Blesbokspruit.
Another blockage was fixed last week and the whole neighbourhood is wondering when the pipe will be blocked again.
This “big stink” causes inconvenience to the people living closest to the spruit because they cannot sit in their gardens nor in their houses without the sewage odour haunting them.
Ramesh Sheodin, ward councillor for Bakerton, says this sewage problem has been going on for more than 20 years.
“It seems like this raw sewerage is flowing into the river when there is a blockage upstream, near Slovo Park, and when the problem is not reported the stink continues.
“I don’t understand why the stinking begins at night while on some nights everything is fine,” says Sheodin.
He also confirmed that Pintail Close’s perpetual blockage has been cleared almost every month since he became the ward councillor in 2011.
Of all the areas in Bakerton along the Blesbokspruit that have experienced blockages lasting many weeks, Pintail Close is the worst.
In my opinion, the capacity of the sewer infrastructure has not been upgraded to accommodate the new houses and development,” says Sheodin.
He says this infrastructure problem is a direct result of Ekurhuleni metro’s under-spending of the capital budget year after year and the under-provision for capital expenditure and maintenance.
As proof to this he says the metro has spent only 19.89% of the capital budget for the first six months of the 2014/2015 financial year, that ended in December.
Only 38% of this capital budget was spent on water and sanitation during these six months.
“Our infrastructure is falling apart and if this continues unchecked and drastic measures are not taken to increase capital expenditure we will not have water and sewerage services, in addition to the erratic supply of electricity,” warns Sheodin.
