Vandalism causing leaking sewage
Ndlambe Municipality issued a notice on Monday stating its team was hard at work trying to address sewage spills flooding parts of the Port Alfred CBD as residents vented their anger on social media and shared photographs of raw sewage flowing in the streets.
“This is to notify all residents of Port Alfred that we are currently experiencing nonfuntioning of our sewer pumpstations [Main West and Wharf Street], due to vandalism that happened on our electricity supply,” the notice said.
“In order to avoid spillages in town, sanitation trucks are currently assisting while dealing with the electricity supply.
“The service provider is currently working on the vandalism [to the] electricity supply and the municipality will issue an update when more information is available.”
Ward 10 councillor Nadine Haynes clarified in a message to residents’ groups: “I have been to see the Department of Infrastructure about the sewage spill in town this morning [Monday].
“One of the pump stations have been vandalised during load-shedding last night [Sunday] and an electrician is currently attending to the replacement of the stolen cable.
“In the interim, the sewerage department are syphoning the sewage and carting it to the waste treatment plant. We apologise for the unfortunate overflow at present,” she said.
Meanwhile, Becker Street resident, Colin Barnard, has had ongoing issues with a different sewage pump station.
He had a retort to Ndlambe ’ s response to his May 19 letter about sewage in his street.
He said the statement that the municipality currently had a team working on the pump station on the corner of Pike and Becker Streets wasn’t accurate.
Banard said the pump station had been leaking since the latest refurbishment.
During that refurbishment, he said, a fence enclosure and a gate had been erected around the facility.
“We overlook the pump station and [have] never seen any sign of vandalism and the enclosure remains under lock and key.
“There has not been any activity [other than the leaking faeces] for at least two months.
“We would see and invariably hear work crews when they are on site,” he said.