Unbearable stench goes on for seven years

Some Florentia residents are demanding answers after having to dig deep into their pockets and enduring an unbearable stench caused by a sewage spill.

The sewage spill is, according to one resident Sharon Bridgland, a result of ill-maintained sewage pipes that have left some residents spending thousands of rands.

The problem which has been ongoing for about seven years is said to have deteriorated over the years and residents demand a permanent solution.

According to Bridgland, these sewage spills affect her health adversely.

“I have an immune system disorder, and last year from sewage spills I actually got ill. I can’t afford to get ill. My pets are drinking this water and if they get ill, who is going to pay the bill? “In the last three weeks, we have been having a sewage spill and the municipality has been coming to open it and it flows again for a while,” she said.

Besides opening these sewage drains, as a temporal measure, she said the municipality needs to send trucks to open up all the manholes and clean all of them.

She reiterated that they find all sorts of things in these sewage drains that cause blockage, from magazines, hair braids, and fibre cables.

“It started with houses next to us and as the years progressed, this has been happening to more houses up the road. One house next to us had put a non-return valve which cost them R8 000 because they got damage of R43 000 from the sewage spill into their property,” said Bridgland.

Zweli Dlamini, speaking for the City of Ekurhuleni, said these blockages occur because of the misuse of the system by consumers.

“When opening the blockage, we found foreign objects stuck in the manhole. We took out a pair of shoes, wooden blocks and rags. The line downstream was swept to prevent further blockages. Foreign objects are not supposed to enter a sewer system during normal use of it,” he said.