With no answers or options left, residents in Kaapsig after being plagued with ongoing sewage spills for years, out of own pocket devised and built a drain to channel sewage away from their home onto a field.
“We had no other choice as the ongoing sewage spills are causing a health hazard to my family. Fortunately the open field is behind our house on a big road reserve where it won’t be a nuisance to others,” says one resident who does not want to be named.
According to this resident several homes in their quiet street are flooded with sewage two or more times a year. Due to what they believe is a fault in the network, sewage sometimes pushes up from their kitchen drain and floods the backyard.
“It is strange that sewage bubbles up from a stormwater drain. The spills started back in 2014 and every time it happens our entire backyard is flooded. Although the City responds to the complaints a lasting solution or source of the problem has not been identified and the problem persists.”
The resident says over the years different City officials have cited several reasons as to why the spills occur.
“We have been told it could be that nearby restaurants in a new mall probably don’t have fat traps. But it does not make sense either, as the new mall was only built in 2018, four years after our troubles started. We suspect it will only get worse as development continues while the infrastructure remains inadequate. Someone at the planning department must have signed off on the plans when these houses were built. It is evident even when you look at our water out-flow pipes that the system cannot handle the sewage nor the water of the heavy rains in Cape Town,” the resident says.
“It is a nightmare to clean up the mess. The City used to sweep up and sprinkle a chemical on the grass, but these days they only pour the chemical and leave us to clean up the rest. The stench is unbearable and lingers for weeks.”
