It seems, every day recently, Port Alfred is awash with sewage and sewage smells.
The roads in the CBD are overflowing with stage, particularly on the Kowie Flats at Biscay Road, Masonic Street, Stocks Avenue, Cambell Street and Van der Riet Street. The latter street was the location of the Van der Riet Street festival this past Easter weekend, and the odour of raw sewage threatened to put a damper on proceedings.
Having recently paid a contractor to unblock the drains in town it is unfortunate that the stench seems worse now than before.
But Port Alfred CBD isn’t the only place where raw sewage pours into the street. The photograph shows sewage adjacent to the SPCA in Station Hill. This is particularly disturbing as the leak was reported in the middle of last year and has not been attended to.
Unfortunately, the family who has a home opposite the SPCA cannot reasonably go into their own garden because of the baulk-inducing stench from the overflowing sewage. Worse, the young daughter of the family has developed a skin rash due to the continuous presence of sewage.
The municipality needs to look into this and all other problems associated with sewage as a matter of urgency. As a holiday destination, Port Alfred is losing visitors because of the lack of water and the smell of sewage that seems strongest near eating establishments in town.