Sol urges residents to stop tossing items into drains

THE SOL Plaatje Municipality has once again urged residents not to dispose of unwanted items into the sewerage system, a practice that is resulting in increasing incidents of blocked drains throughout the city.

Last week, the municipality and emergency services reacted to a hoax call where it was reported that a child had fallen into a manhole in Stone Street in Galeshewe.

A rescue team, including fire brigade, police and several municipal trucks and vans, heeded the call only to discover that the blockage was caused by rocks and not a child.

Community members accused the municipality of being tardy in responding to reports of blocked drains, and believed that the hoax call was made in an attempt to direct the local authority’s attention to the problem of overflowing sewage in the area.

According to the Sol Plaatje Municipality, items routinely removed from the city’s drainage system include hosepipes, tyres, blankets, towels and even meat.

The call centre manager at the municipality, Moses Nhlapo, pleaded with members of the community this week not to throw unwanted items into the sewerage system.

“We receive calls from the same areas every week and most of the time the blockages are the result of actions by residents,” said Nhlapo.

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He added that while fingers were pointed at the municipality for not responding timeously to reports of blocked drains, the delay was caused because workers had to try determine the source of the problem.

“We cannot unblock the same manhole every week. When several calls come from the same area in a short period of time we first try to determine where the blockage is situated,” he said.

“It is a reality that the sewerage infrastructure is outdated but the community is partly to blame for abusing the system.”

Nhlapo explained that the foreign items disposed of into the sewerage system resulted in blockages and sewage overflowing from manholes.

He also urged members of the community not to open manholes and to report open drains to the municipality.

“Open drains are a hazard and an inconvenience to many people. Children can also fall into them. I would like to warn the community to shy away from the tendency of opening manholes in order to dump unwanted items into them, especially during functions and funerals.

“There are also yards where there are open pipes behind the toilets and people often pour their dirty water into these pipes, especially when doing their laundry. Often items like towels and clothing also land up in these pipes.”

Hot spots identified by the municipality where dumping into the sewerage system is problematic are Bloemanda, Kagisho, Club 2000, Chris Hani, Tambo Square, Nxumalo Street and Homelite Extension.