Today, there’s only one way to prove to the community that the Klein Olifants River is healthy and clean, and that is for councillors, to dig out swimming trunks and take the plunge, like thousands of Middelburgers have in years gone by.

Last week, the river was a flowing mess of sewage and industrial waste.

The municipality again blamed the Eastdene sewage line for the stinking mess. The sewer line runs from the industrial area to Boskrans, where regular blockages often lead to overflowing manholes, which in turn flows directly into the river.

Residents also tend to discard items like clothing and plastic into the sewers, which result in more frequent blockages.

The municipality attends to blocked sewer lines when they are reported, but the frequency of spillages are becoming more damaging, as Boskrans also adds to the pollution with overflows that are substandard.

According to Ms Prudence Magutle, spokeswoman for the municipality, the affected pipeline will be upgraded, as it is too small to handle the current flow of effluent.

The project will be completed by the end of June next year, she says.

Meanwhile, the municipality is also searching for two freshwater leaks at Kees Taljaard Stadium, where millions of litres of water have gone to waste over the past ten months, according to Dr Kobus Terblanche.

Dr Terblanche joined the paper on a site visit to the river on Friday, where he said that, according to his calculations, purified water to the value of more than R30 000 per month is wasted.

A contractor appointed to find and fix the leaks has dug a number of holes and trenches without success.

The municipality is also bracing itself for more problems during the rainy season, expecting the awful smell that enveloped Kanonkop and Dennesig during the past couple of months to return.

The DA says it has received and reported countless complaints from residents over the deterioration of the river in the last two weeks.