GEORGE NEWS - A despondent Elsabé Kuypers from Serendipity in Wilderness sent in a photo showing sand bags stacked in a half circle around a problematic drain in Freesia Avenue. The municipality placed the bags around a drain where sewage regularly overflows due to inconsistent power supply to the pump station.
She writes: "Yesterday (Wednesday 21 March), I was absolutely astounded to find workers in Freesia Avenue putting sand bags around the drain to create a dam wall. This drain is on the sidewalk and in front of the town houses in Freesia Avenue. If this ingenious invention is filled up, the sewage will still have free flow to the nearest storm water drain in Freesia Road, entering the Touw River.
"This is the very same drain I reported every time for the last three years. This year we already had seven (sewage) spills."
The George Herald has been reporting on this recurring complaint, to which Engineering Services Director Reggie Wesso commented in February that the municipality "is consulting with relevant professionals to address the matter".
Although upgrading of the pump station has been incorporated in the draft 2018/19 budget, it must be approved first.
He said one of the suggestions by residents, namely an overflow tank, will not be viable due to a lack of space. SANParks in February had only one e. coli test result for a water sample from the Touw River at Freesia Rock (which was zero). According to the results sheet, Freesia Rock is a new test site.
Responding to the George Herald's query regarding the sand bags, Wesso referred to the SANParks test result, saying that it confirmed that the lagoon is not being polluted as a result of the sewage spills.
'We bring you the latest George, Garden Route news'
