Residents in the west of Pretoria heaved a sigh of relief this week after a bad smell from a nearby stream finally disappeared, following a recent clean-up by the Tshwane metro.
“We are very relieved the stream is finally clean,” said Booysens resident Kleintjie Janse van Rensburg.
“Now we can finally open our windows and doors without having to smell it anymore.”
ALSO READ: UPDATE: Coca-Cola factory accepts partial guilt over smelly west stream
Janse van Rensburg said municipal workers cleaned up the stream last week Wednesday.
“We are really thankful to the metro for this,” she said.
The stream has been driving nearby residents up the wall for years with some claiming that the smell was so bad it made them sick and even affected vegetation in the area.
She said her only concern now was overgrown grass by to the stream.
“I am afraid vagrants might use the tall grass as a hiding spot,” she said.
“This stormwater channel was mostly polluted by waste from upstream,” said Tshwane metro spokesperson Lindela Mashigo.
“This waste was washed down by storms and the bad smell was from this waste, which accumulated in the channel.”
Mashigo said the metro’s roads and stormwater division and pollution control units would investigate further for any other sources of pollution in the area.
ALSO READ: Smelly west stream to be tackled soon
A nearby Coca-Cola factory, which admitted partial guilt for the bad smell, also did their part in the clean-up.
This included inspecting all effluent, stormwater drains and repairing any that caused pollution in the channel because they did not function optimally, they said.
The factory said they will continuously check for potential leaks as part of their maintenance plan to avoid any spillage in future.
Van Wyk said this week he was glad the stream was finally cleaned up.
He was, however, concerned about the maintenance of stormwater drains in the area.
Van Wyk said this was a concern throughout Pretoria, especially in his ward.
“They are dirty, blocked and sometimes the water does not go through,” he said.
“The lack of maintenance of these stormwater drains is because of tenders that are not in place.”
He asked that, when residents report such blocked stormwater drains, they send him a picture, along with a street address.
“I will then send it through to the metro so that it can be cleaned up,” he said.
ALSO READ: Water Wednesday: Water streams out of Western Cape dams
Do you have more information about the story? Please send us an email to editorial@rekord.co.za or phone us on 083 625 4114.
For free breaking and community news, visit Rekord’s websites:
For more news and interesting articles, like Rekord on Facebook, follow us on Twitter or Instagram
