A Table View family is drowning in poo water and says the City of Cape Town has refused to help them clean up.
Homeowner Desraye Auret says this was by far the worst spill as their backyard and swimming pool flooded with raw sewage.
The gatvol vrou says they first experienced problems in 2019 at their home in Circle Road.
Auret says: “There are four manholes on the property and two are always overflowing. As we live on the lowest point of the road we are always affected. Each time the City says it’s due to the fat and other objects in the sewer system, but we cannot pay the price for that.”
She says in just one year the family has suffered seven sewage spills.
Auret says: “We have teenagers, and my elderly parents who live on the property had to walk through it to get inside. Over the weekend we reported the spill and were told they could not attend to it. The water then spilled into our pool, contaminating it.
“On Monday morning they arrived and the one truck that was sanitising the garden ran out of water and they had to stop. My father questioned one of the workers about why she was seen still sweeping the sewage into the pool as opposed to the manhole and she said, ‘it’s because it was closer.’”
The homeowner says she was shocked as officials then revealed that she would have to pay for the decontamination of the pool and immediately objected.
She says: “I refused, because firstly I don’t have that kind of money right now and this was caused by the spill... so far just the cost to refill the pool will be about R7 000.”
Mayco member for Water and Sanitation, Zahid Badroodien, says the team responded within the 24-hour period as required and explained that they disinfected the affected area.
Badroodien says: “The directorate is looking into the additional request for assistance from the resident. She has in the meantime been issued with information regarding the City’s public liability claims process.”
Badroodien says the sewer pipeline has been unblocked and the team is planning to service and clear the fat in the rest of the sewer network in the area.
Karen Davis of the Greater Table View Action Forum believes increased densification of the suburb is at the heart of the problem as infrastructure cannot cope.
Davis says: “We have been informed that a moratorium has been placed on developments until the upgrade to the Potsdam Sewage Works are completed. We have raised this time and time again with the City and if you drive through the areas of Dunoon and Joe Slovo you will see manholes continuously spilling sewage in the streets as the services cannot keep up.”
dailyvoice@inl.co.za