Pollution of water
Kgang Moloko
Communities tend to use rivers as dumping grounds, creating pollution. This is evident in our village’s local intermittent water stream, separating the Segema and Salema sections. Garbage is visible along the stream and in illegal dumping sites. A stench can be smelled from the same stream, indicating a sewage leakage over a meter from the stream.
In Phokeng there are few sites or sections connected to the sewage system that cater to the Phokeng Civic Centre the system runs through the Saron section and Salema Section where Phokeng police station is situated and the system also covers the station, it is not the municipal sewage system but that of the village royal administration. A sewer manhole near the stream in the Salema section blocked and spilled into the stream polluting the water and creating a stench that is smelt in the area and more around the newly built bridge that connects the two (2) mentioned sections, it is bad that you can smell it inside a house, the residents around the stream have to live with the smell and some don’t know what creates the smell as most of households in the village have their pit drains in their yards.
Lillian Lesomo who resides 4 minutes’ walk from the stream says the smell was horrible and it is better now as it seems like the problem was repaired. “We can smell this bad smell; it is like sewage is leaking into the stream but it puzzles us because we do not know where it spills from,” she says. She continues “I know there is a sewage system passing near but it is not on the side of our houses as we use our drains whereby when the pit drain is full, we call the extraction company to drain it out so it cannot be from any of the houses nearby. The administration should fix the leak” “When you pass through the bridge you can smell the bad odour from the stream like sewage and you can see garbage on the side of the stream which is visible that the stream is polluted
and nothing is done about it.
No awareness is ever held to teach people about polluting our environment and I believe the administration must involve the community and have campaigns to stop the smell and dumping on our rivers”. Says young Puseletso. As the community around the bridge commented that they did not know the source of the bad smell, I walked up the stream to find the source of the bad odour it was visible that there was a spillage into the stream and there were areas where it is illegally designated for dumping and found garbage along the stream showing it was flowing with the water and scattered along the stream when water flow subsided. Walking Up the stream, there is a sewage manhole that has evidence that it was blocked and spilled into the stream and it has stopped which is the reason why the smell has dropped.
“I was not aware of the area where the spillage comes from, now we will be able to report to the administration and give the location of the spill”. Says Lillian.
Special care is needed for our rivers and streams to stop water pollution, and constant campaigns and information sharing to promote clean and sustainable water streams free from litter and spillages which results in better well-being for the community.
