It has been four weeks and there is still no response from the Emalahleni Municipality or Mr Theo van Vuuren regarding the sewage filled dam in Louise Street.
The dam in Louise Street at the entrance to Del Judor 4 has become a health risk as a result of the dam filling up with raw sewerage.
The sewage which flows in from a manhole near the N4 Highway flows right through the Emalahleni Department of Environmental Affairs and into the dam.
Sewage now fills the dam in Louise Street.
The incident was first reported to the municipality on August 18 by DA ward councillor, Lizelle Steyn and to date has not received any attention.
On Monday August 29, Mr Stanley White, chairman of the Del 4 Residents Association and Mr Clive Hatch, a committee member of the association took samples of the water and sent them off to Regen Waters Labaratory for analysis.
The analysis of the water sample showed that there is an excess of 2 420 units of E-coli per 100ml of water.
“I believe that the e-coli and ammonia are at dangerously high levels and the phosphate levels are moderately high,” said Hatch.
“This is a disgraceful situation and considering that it was first reported by Lizelle Steyn the ward councillor on August 18 it is totally irresponsible. As yet there has been no response to the community from the Municipal Manager – there is not even a notice warning people of the health hazard,” he added.
The Del Judor 4 Residents Association has decided to report this to the Green Scorpions and the human rights commission in hopes that the matter will be taken seriously seeing as R1.5-million has been allocated to the purchase of a new car but not toward serious health risks.
“According to the results there seems to be a high concentration of raw sewage in the water, the sample that was submitted contained a high concentration of E-coli. This can be a health risk to the community as the water contains a high count of pathogenic (disease carrying) bacteria,” said Mr Ludolf Uys, Regen Waters Laboratory owner.
The report from Regen Waters showing that the water has an excess count of more than 2 420 units of E-coli per 100ml.
He added that sewage water discharged into dams or streams must contain a zero E-coli count, the reason being to prevent the spreading of diseases into rivers and dams.
Van Vuuren was contacted again regarding the issue and has requested that Mr Shadrak Ndlovu and Mr Collen Blankies look into the matter.
