Resident’s backyard leakage blues
A pervading stench and the ever -growing fear of her entire garden being over-run by sewage left the resident scrambling for any avenue to bring attention to the matter.
An Arbor Park resident was horrified to find a sewage manhole in her back yard had sprung a leak on Sunday , February 15.
The problem began early on Sunday morning, but due to the apparent lack of an available emergency line used to contact the Newcastle Municipality over the weekend, the resident was forced to only report the problem the following Monday.
A pervading stench and the ever -growing fear of her entire garden being over-run by sewage left the resident scrambling for any avenue to bring attention to the matter.
“The smell was so bad I could barely sleep last night.
“I have put a lot of work into my garden only for it to be ruined like this.
“I tried my best to contain it but I cant do much more about it,” complained the aggrieved resident.
Stating this was not her first experience with the problem, the resident recalled having the same drain leak multiple time over the course of 2014. “How many times will they have to fix it before it finally stops?” she asked.
This added to a growing number of complaints surrounding sewage leaks across Newcastle.Ward 25 councillor, Mqapheleni Ngcobo, committed to deal with the matter to ensure it would be solved timeously.
“I have undertaken to deal with this matter in and will take the necessary steps to ensure it is resolved,” he promised
After more than 48 hours, Newcastle Municipality answered the resident’s call for aid and the problem was finally solved on Tuesday afternoon.
Mayor Afzul Rehman, was concerned by the neglect of adequate communication channels and said: “Ward councillors should be more approachable to be able to deal with issues when residents cannot get hold of the Municipality. I have reported the problem and it will be rectified soon.”
In previous articles, it was explained the root of the sewage problem lay with Newcastle’s aging infrastructure.
Cllr Ngcobo highlighted the process of receiving complaints of the community. “There are always channels a resident can follow to bring a matter to the Municipality’s attention,” he explained. “Every ward has ward committee members that are available to receive the community’s complaints.
“If the ward committee cannot solve a problem, residents will be directed to the relevant department. Ward committee members bring the community’s problems to my attention, in which case I will deal with it personally.”
“I appeal to the residents of my ward to come forward and approach the committee members if they cannot get hold of me when they have issues like these,” he concluded.
