Thousands of litres of sewage flow from a maintenance hole between Kokosi and the Merafong City Local Municipality’s sewerage works.
According to AfriForum’s Fochville branch chairperson, Jaco van der Merwe, sewage has been leaking from these holes on the same pipeline for years. The pipeline channels the sewage from Fochville, Greenspark and Kokosi to the municipal works. However, because the sewage works are not functioning, the waste water streams out of the sewer holes.
“The last time I was here towards the end of last year, sewage leaked from another maintenance hole closer to the sewage works,” he says.
As the blockage of the main sewer line worsens, it pushes the leaks back to the maintenance holes closer to Fochville or, in effect, closer to the town.
He says members of his organisation and farmers from the area have asked the municipality numerous times to attend to the problem. So far, it has done nothing.
Currently, so much sewage flows from the industrial-sized sewer hole that one can hear the roar from one side of Kokosi.
The force of the flow has pushed the heavy concrete cover aside. It is now lying in a river of sewage close by. All the sewage flows towards the Loopspruit.
The sewage in this river gushes towards the Klipdrift Dam near Potchefstroom.
“All the fish are going to die. We are worried because our cattle have nowhere else to drink,” complains a Kokosi resident and livestock owner, Mr Tom Tekiso.
Tekiso added that many sewage leaks in Kokosi are linked to the same problem. Instead of sorting it out, the municipality has dug a ditch to divert the sewage from these leaks, also towards the Loop-spruit.
The sewage has washed away the original road to the sewage works.
The magnitude of the problem is so great that one can even see the leaks on Google Earth images.
On Tuesday, the Herald asked the municipality what it planned to do about this massive problem and when it would be addressed.
“The problem is caused by the construction of the Kokosi plant. It will be resolved within a month. A project is underway to connect the new outfall sewer to the Kokosi waste water treatment plant. We continuously test and monitor the downstream water,” says the municipal spokesperson.
