Raw sewage pollutes St Lucia estuary
Raw sewage flowing into St Lucia estuary and across Mtubatuba's streets.
THE problem of ill-maintained government infrastructure has once again reared its ugly head, this time resulting in raw sewage polluting the St Lucia estuary, Nordale residential area and Mtubatuba town.
Despite its World Heritage Site status, raw sewage flowed into the St Lucia estuary for seven consecutive days last month before essential repairs to pump station three were eventually carried out.
The result was a large dam of sewage on the banks of the estuary below the main road and a smell to make anyone sick.
More worrying is the fact that this has happened before.
Last October the same problem occurred, but it was only in February after numerous reports had been submitted to the Department of Environmental Affairs and others, that the problem was dealt with and infrastructure repaired.
The presence of raw sewage in Mtubatuba town, bubbling out of manhole covers and flowing across roads, has almost been accepted as part of daily life, with motorists zipping up their windows and pedestrians doing a poo waltz.
Unable to cope with the sheer amount of waste, grinders have been installed in the town’s sewerage system to grind down the waste before it reaches the pumps.
While Nordale’s waste is disposed of through the use of a ‘honey sucker’, unconfirmed reports suggest it is merely dumped in plantations adjacent to the landfill site.
uMkhanyakude District is littered with water and sewage problems, all the result of ill-maintained infrastructure that has never been upgraded to serve the district’s booming population.
While millions has allegedly been set aside by provincial government to be spent on giving Mtubatuba and surrounding areas a facelift, there is no confirmation of this as nothing has been budgeted for, said Mtubatuba Municipal Administrator Bamba Ndwandwe last week at the municipality’s special council budgetary meeting.
@TamlynJolly
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