THE hydraulic channel (sloot) that runs along Kliprivier Drive between Southdale Drive and Webb Street in Southdale is slowly filling with rubbish.
Apart from the stink that is caused by the sewage there, people are now disposing their rubbish into this channel. The recent Pikitup strike didn’t help either as people were discarding their rubbish there.
Barbara Rochoy, a resident in the area, said the sewerage problem is being attended to by Joburg Water. “Unfortunately, at the present time all the effluent is draining into the channel, which is also running into the stream in Booysens, until they, Joburg Water can get the sewerage drain unblocked,” she said.
She also mentioned that during the Pikitup strike, ‘entrepreneurs’ who live in her street charged people to empty their rubbish bins. “They then take them ‘home’ and burn the rubbish. In fact they were throwing into the channel,” she said.
The COURIER once did a story on this channel in 2004. At the time, Barbara was trying to get it cleaned out. “But maybe because of the Pikitup strike, we are back to a disgusting mess. What is concerning here, is that this is a storm water drain and the water runs down to the stream in Booysens, taking with all this rubbish, which then contaminates or pollutes our water. People need to stop throwing their rubbish into our channel and they must not let other people empty our bins there, as these people do not know or perhaps care that they are damaging the environment,” she noted.
Eleanor Mavimbela, JW, external communication officer said the sewer smell in the channel was due to a blockage which has been cleared. “What happened is that a manhole cover was trapped inside the sewer pipe which resulted in a spillage into the storm water channel. Next to the grassy area there was also sludge that caused a very bad smell reported by one of the community members whom the foreman went to site with over the weekend to investigate. The sludge was cleared and Deeping (chemical cleaning) was also done to clear the smell,” she said.
