Ladysmith’s notorious Stinkspruit cleared by uThukela
So far, they have completed about 3km of sewer line and 38 manholes
The technical services team from uThukela District Municipality say they have made tremendous progress in clearing the sewer lines that have been blocked along the ‘notorious’ Stinkspruit in the Cochrane Road area. uThukela have managed to clear and clean out all the manholes from Reservoir Road down to Christopher Park.
They were forced to stop on Monday (June 29) due to other emergency work in town.
So far, they have completed about 3km of sewer line and 38 manholes. They have also managed to replace at least 19 manhole covers and frames that have either been stolen, broken or removed. Theft and vandalism of infrastructure remains a huge challenge across the district.
According to uThukela, the main cause of these blockages varied from area to area. In the Reservoir Road / golf course area, it was mainly tree roots growing into the sewer lines from underneath and blocking the flow. The trees were identified and the district municipality will follow up with the relevant owners.
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From Ruby Gailey Drive down to Christopher Park in Francis Road, it was mainly sand and stones that had entered the sewer system from open manholes, where the covers were missing or stolen. All the covers have been replaced.
uThukela say they also encountered more roots and fat in the system as they moved closer to more populated areas.
“We are still busy with our programme, and we will be starting with the areas around Sondela and Poort Road soon. We also have to do some sewer line repairs at the Sondela intersection. The community in general has appreciated our efforts, but we also request them to report any suspicious activity (vandalism) to our call centre on 0860104257.”
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