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JANSENVILLE NEWS AND VIDEO - Sewerage problems that started in Jansenville more than a year ago, are causing substantial volumes of sewage to flow into the Sundays River.

According to the recently established Jansenville Residents Forum, the sewage holding dam broke early in 2020, which means the sewage has been discharging into the Sundays River for more than a year.

According to the forum this is not the first sewage spill into the river - there have been many spills over the years that were left unattended for extended periods of time. In addition, the forum also raises concern about the fact that the municipal sewage dams are currently overflowing into the Brak Rivier.

The Lower Sundays River Water User Association reported the issue to the Department of Water and Sanitation on 4 February after the forum brought it to their attention.

The Sundays River flows into the Darlington Dam and according to Mike Primmer of the Lower Sundays River Water User Association and Andrew Lucas of the Department of Water and Sanitation, one of the many concerns is that the sewage will cause large scale fish deaths both now and when the next rain comes.

Mzukisi Maneli of the Department of Water and Sanitation responded on 5 February that an investigation was conducted late last year relating to sewage spills at Jansenville bridge pump station. A non-compliance letter was written to the Jansenville Municipality for corrective action and this letter was rerouted to the Director of Infrastructure Services at the Dr Beyers Naude local municipality, Bennie Arends.

According to Maneli there has been no response, or an action plan from the municipality.

But according to Arends, a response was provided to the department, and interim measures were put in place by appointing a service provider, whom is attending to the matter. "The municipality furthermore applied for encroachment to Sanral for repairing of this specific sewer line crossing the R75. The appointed service provider is assisting the municipality by attending to spills, as and when it occurs."

Watch a video below.

On 8 March, the Lower Sundays River Water User Association again raised the issue of the sewage spill with the department. 

Maneli says the department does not know if the recently reported sewage spill is a recurring spill or a new pollution incident, but undertook to follow up and to provide feedback.

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