Residents will be relieved to know that the stream of rotting milk that has flowed down Durham Road for several months will cease before Christmas, due to the milk shop’s imminent relocation to Glenhazel. Community members have been outraged as milky waste from the dairy and shop, located in a nearby centre, flows past their houses.
Emerging from a storm water drain clogged by litter and rubble, the milk streams down the road for several hundred metres before being directed into a second, functional, drain. According to nearby residents, the smell, as the milk rots under the summer sun, is unbearable.
“The street stinks. My front garden pongs,” said one distressed local in a call to the North Eastern Tribune, adding that she believed the milk was pouring into drains reserved for drinking water.
According to a report by a Department of Health investigator, the milk made its way into the storm water drain through an incorrect connection to several sewage pipes. A blockage, formed by litter, rubble and soil lodged in the drain, is responsible for the leakage of the milk onto the street.
The presence of organic waste such as milk in the storm water drainage system is illegal and poses a health hazard, as organic waste can enter and pollute local rivers via these drains. Following complaints by residents, the Department of Environmental Health has issued a statutory notice to the milk shop’s owner to comply with health regulations.
According to the owners (who prefer to remain unnamed), a drain expert was called in to examine the problem and said the shop was compliant with the laws governing disposal of waste. However, they hope the problem will soon become irrelevant. Due to the business’s expansion, a long-awaited relocation is due to take place within weeks.
Municipal authorities have declared their intention to follow up on the issue, but perhaps residents will soon find short-term relief from this pongy problem.
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