Residents of Rose Street in Florida say they have had to live with the stench of raw sewage running down their street for nearly two months while their pleas for help to Johannesburg Water (JW) went ignored.

According to Neville Deanne, a resident at 43 Rose Street, they eventually took to calling the entity on a near-daily basis.

“We were desperate,” he says. “This has been an ongoing problem in our street for years.

“The drain blocks at the top of the street near the CBD. JW is summoned, but they don’t do a proper job. They simply push the blockage down to the next drain, which results in it blocking up again a few days later.

“They simply keep pushing the blockages down the line until eventually, they have to start again at the top.”

At the Roodepoort Record’s visit to the site, the drain on the driveway of no 43 was overflowing into the street, the pungent smell evident long before they arrived at the house.

“It is getting to the point where my driveway is sustaining damage,” says 90-year-old Deanne. “You can even see the damage to the road surface from the nearly continuous stream of sewage we have to deal with.

“We have to drive through this mess, and wash our wheels before we park our cars in the garage to avoid the smell.”

According to JW spokesperson Nombuso Shabalala, the entity is aware of the recurring blockage at Rose Street.

“Every time a blockage is reported, a team is sent from the depot to respond.

“Due to the blockage recurring, it has perhaps created the impression that JW has not yet attended to the matter.

“When the line is blocked, high-pressure jetting, instead of a steel rod, is employed to ensure that the line is completely cleared.”

Shabalala adds that this section of the line will be monitored to fully determine the cause of the recurring blockages; however, sewage blockages are commonly caused by the disposal of inappropriate materials into the sewer system, such as fats, oils, grease, rags, and foreign objects.

“In some cases, structural issues like root intrusion, collapsed pipes, or inadequate pipe gradients may also contribute to recurring blockages.”