GEORGE NEWS - A collapsed main sewerage pipe on the property of Denneoord resident Verne Rabinowitz was repaired in record time on Thursday 22 February. 

The old pipe was suspected of having leached for years and Denneoord residents who live downstream from it are holding thumbs that the problem has now been solved.

A report in George Herald of 5 January 2016 detailed the shoddy workmanship of contractors who failed to connect up a section of pipe during a partial upgrade of the Heatherlands to Kraaibosch main sewerage pipe. 

The contractors had at the time stopped work - first for a more urgent project that came up in November and then for the December 2015 builders' holidays.

For more than a year residents living on the banks of the river had complained of the incessant malodour coming from the Mitchell Spruit, which feeds into the Kat River and into the Garden Route dam, George's main water supply.

Sinkhole
The first inkling Rabinowitz got of the pipe problem rearing its ugly head again was when a big sink hole formed at the edge of her lawn close to the river last week. 

"I was worried about any possible pollution to the river and reported it," she related. "The George Municipality reacted by digging up the old decayed pipe and replacing it." 

George Afriforum environmental affairs coordinator Tinus Nortjé (left) and Deon de Jager, Afriforum Western Cape District coordinator, have asked for regular water sample tests to be done on the Mitchell River.  A sample taken further downstream on4 November last year revealed an E. coli count of  38 000. Photos: Pauline Lourens

George Municipality's sewer manager Randal van Staden and colleagues came to the Rabinowitz property on Friday to follow up and inspect the repairs. 

They were surprised to hear that, upon digging up the site, it was found that a length of old pipe had been left in the pipeline during the upgrading and that it was not attached to the newer installed pipe. 

He confirmed that this time the sections of the mains were properly connected up. 

He promised to have follow-up water tests done to determine whether there are any other leaks.

Verne Rabinowitz (right) asked the George Municipality to investigate whether the new pipe section laid two years ago is sound and not leaching sewage onto her property.

Water testing
The environmental affairs coordinator of George Afriforum, Tinus Nortjé, and Afriforum Western Cape District coordinator Deon de Jager were following up water pollution complaints last week when they came across the George Municipality's workers repairing the pipe. 

Both Afriforum and Rabinowitz have asked for regular monitoring to be done after the initial follow-up sample testing of the river.

Further upgrading of the Denneoord mains was scheduled to be done in sections in 2016, but this never materialised. 

It is suspected that the old pipe is porous and possibly unable to meet the demands of a rapidly growing population.

When a pipe is old, porous and in need of replacement, it should enjoy a very high priority, said Tinus Nortjé this week. He was reacting to the complaints lodged by Denneoord residents over the past year.

Exposure to bacteria
Nortjé said, "In the meantime, Denneoord families like the Whiteheads, Tilleys and Rautenbachs of Madeliefie Street and the Ogilvies and Pitols of Oewer Street, have been exposed to raw sewage flowing down the Mitchell River possibly containing harmful bacteria since 2015. 

"Denver Whitehead suffered from septicaemia in his finger when he cleared his property of alien invasive plants and he sustained a cut which festered for weeks."

Legwork
Nortjé said, "When a main sewerage pipe is old, porous and in need of replacement, it should have the highest priority." 

Over the past year, Nortjé spent many hours bringing the much-needed upgrade to the attention of local councillors and George Municipal officials. 

Upon enquiry the George Herald was told that the George Municipality does not have the funds to replace the Denneoord mains pipe this year. 

Last year a similar enquiry addressed to the municipality yielded the same response.

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