‘Swimming in sewage’ – a resident’s nightmare
Elrina Oelofse and her neighbour have for years been affected by an over flowing communal sewage drain.
A communal drain, situated on a Maynard Street private property in Garsfontein, has been a nightmare for the owners of the home and their neighbours.
The drain, which overflows “too often” spilling waste in Elrina Oelofse’s garden, flooding their lapa and seeping through walls right into their neighbour’s swimming pool, has been a problem for some years now, with Rekord first reporting on it back in December 2019.
In August last year, Rekord again reported on flowing sewage from the same property.
“We are drowning in sewerage again,” a frustrated Oelofse told Rekord last week.
“It is a communal drain from all over Garsfontein. So it’s not our waste but it’s our problem.”
Oelofse said she has tried over the years to get a long-term solution to the problem, with no success.
She has reported the matter to the municipality but said no long-term solutions were ever provided. The drain would only be unblocked only for the next incident to occur again.
The recent incident on June 14, was also reported and this time Oelofse also took to Facebook to air her frustration.
In her Facebook post, Oelofse shared her years of struggle with the overflowing sewage and how she had tried many avenues with no success.
“What else is left to try,” she said in her post.
Oelofse told Rekord: “A ward councillor, not even of our ward, saw my post on Facebook and contacted me.
“She asked me to create a mail with the complaint and she forwarded it to a number of people. A team came to unblock the drain,” she said.
On the same evening, the drain was unblocked and a team was sent to further investigate.
Oelofse said she was told that there was a huge tree in the neighbour’s yard that was causing the problem. The tree believed to be 100 years old would need to be removed.
“Apparently, it is cracking the ancient pipes and roots are growing into the pipes. That is going to be another battle,” she said.
She said every time there was a sewage spill, her family’s health was at risk and this happened too often.
“This happens on a regular basis and again two weeks ago [it happened],” she said.
“And every time it happens we are swimming in the rest of Garsfontein area’s sewerage.”
The metro’s spokesperson Lindela Mashigo confirmed that the regional maintenance team cleared the blockage.
“It is suspected there might be a pipe crack that results in roots and debris intrusion which might be the cause of this chronic blockage,” he said.
“The team will by the end of next week excavate and replace the affected piece of the pipe.”
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