What’s that smell?

Northam – A foul smell has been hanging in the air on the Swartklip road outside Northam for the past week.

The smell can be attributed to a pump at the sewerage plant that broke on Wednesday 20 October. According to councillor David Gouveia, the slash pump picked up unwanted materials and pushed it through the casing, causing the pump to break. The sewerage started backing up and spilling over into the surrounding area.  

Northam has been struggling with blocked drains for more than a year. 

Thabazimbi Local Municipality (TLM) started with the process to procure a jet truck to unblock the drains about six weeks ago and last week the process finally started. Items of clothing, utensils and rocks were some of the items found in the blocked drains.

With the drains slowly but surely being unblocked, some of the discarded items ended up at the plant and in the pumps. The broken pump was repaired on 27 October.

“We would like to urge the community once again to not throw non-biodegradable items in the sewers. These items block the drains, causing backups and spillages. We have to look after our city and its infrastructure,” TLM Northam satellite manager Fred Marirri says. 

#FosteringASenseOfCommunity