Business owner relieved over clean-up
THE owner of a Kuils River sporting business, angered by the City’s delayed response to a fourth sewage spill in the area, is relieved after they finally cleared the sewer water near his facility.
The spill was so extreme he had to shut down his business.
Vicky Petersen, the owner of the Protea Indoor Sports Arena, had to close his business, which was usually a hive of coaching and cricket activities, last week as a result of the stench and the sewer water that had seeped into his property.
Petersen was frustrated after logging multiple complaints with the City about the issue since November 11 with no solution to the recurring sewer problem until the end of last week. The Water and Sanitation Department investigated the matter.
Petersen was grateful the spill was cleared last week and said the City was very helpful since the matter was made public. It even came to follow-up yesterday. The City explained the reason for the complaint taking some time to be attended to was because the address provided for the service request was incorrect.
Water and Sanitation acting Mayco member Siseko Mbandezi said operational teams managed to unblock the overflowing sewage inside a nearby factory and the yard of Kuils River Indoor Sports Arena. This was affected by the sewage overflow, but it was cleaned and disinfected.
“The blockage has been resolved and the operational team will go back to put milling against the vibrate concrete. The staff at the nearby factory have created a berm to divert sewage overflows into the sports property. When there is an overflow, the sewage will flow inside the sports arena’s property,” Mbandezi said.
The City’s Water Pollution Control (WPC) Unit received a complaint of sewage discharging into the stormwater system. The complaint was investigated and it was found that a sewer manhole upstream from the Sports arena on open land was surcharging.
During the investigation, Mbandezi said WPC entered the old steel factory and the security personnel on site advised that the City had cleared a blockage on their site. The matter was then forwarded to Reticulation to clear the blockage.
Petersen said: “The whole situation affected my business very negatively; we were losing money and my employees even got sick.
“I mean, it was the fourth time time the spill happened. I just hope they treated the problem and not just the symptom.”