A blocked sewage drain in Seventh Street in the CBD is causing an unhealthy situation for residents and businesses.
Business owner Karen Tocher says people dump their trash in the open manholes which cause the sewage to overflow.
As soon as the manhole is blocked, the sewage overflows onto the premises of neighbouring houses and leaves a terrible stench.
Tocher faces a sewage challenge every time the drain down the street is blocked.
She believes the sewer line is clogged which led to raw sewage that had backed up, coming out of the drains.
“This could lead to significant damage to the building and an expensive repair job,” she says.
She apparently witnessed people dumping clothes and refuse into an open manhole opposite her business.
Tocher says the metro recently removed most of the refuse and clothes dumped in the drain but didn’t replace the cover.
“Once this is done the problem of overflow will stop,” she says.
Tocher, who contacted a plumber to unblock the drain on her property, says her neighbour across the road couldn’t use his front door because human waste coming from the overflowing drain was piling up outside his house.
Lungile Sibanyone says the problem has been quite a challenge for them as they were under the impression it was the main drain that was blocked.
The blockage somewhere along the sewage line in the street was definitely causing the sewage to overflow on their properties.
“Metro needs to close the open manhole in the street because people are dumping trash in there,” he says.
The Sibanyoni family called out a plumber and the problem was solved; however, they don’t know for how long.
The Addie sent questions to the metro but received no comment at the time of publishing.
