Marlborough commends Suburban, calls on EMA to act on sewage disaster

09 Feb, 2024 - 00:02 0 Views
Marlborough commends Suburban, calls on EMA  to act on sewage disaster A tanker offloading sewage on the Pachena Road manhole.

Suburban Reporter

Marlborough residents have commended Suburban for publishing their plight of having to live in an environment engulfed with a stench emanating from sewage being disposed into a manhole along one of the roads in the suburb.

Last week, Suburban published a story headlined “Sewage stench engulfs Marlborough” in which residents of the suburb requested the City of Harare to immediately close a manhole located along Pachena Road due to the sudden surge of sewage trucks disposing sewage into the manhole that is close to their houses exposing them to cholera threats. The residents said they appreciated the publication for highlighting their plight.

“We take this opportunity to thank the Suburban for publishing the plight of the Marlborough residents that have been:

  • inhaling stinking stench air
  • having respiratory ailments such as asthma
  • contamination of our underground borehole water and thus exposing residents to serious deadly water borne diseases

“All the above caused by the disposal of sewage into the manhole located on Pachena Road,” the residents said in a statement.

They expressed the hope that the Environmental Management Agency will expedite the process of getting the manhole permanently closed and heavily fine the City of Harare for breaching the Environmental Management Act.

“We acknowledge that EMA has since responded and promised to look into this matter in earnest. Residents of Marlborough however genuinely believe that such lack of due diligence by Harare City, warrants a heavy fine!

“We believe imposing a heavy fine will be a good deterrent. It will ensure that Harare City Council in future will not subject and expose any of the Harare residents to such deplorable health hazards,” the residents said.

Suburban could not get any comment from EMA on when the body intends to order the City of Harare to close the manhole or stop honey suckers from disposing sewage into the Pachena Road manhole.

They said the matter was urgent and deserved prioritisation as the honey suckers continue to dispose sewage into the Pachena Road manhole.

“We implore EMA to seriously look into the matter without fear or favour and deliver justice to the residents of Marlborough. This matter deserves urgent attention.  Honey suckers have continued to dispose sewage despite our meeting on site with council officials where we demanded that they stop disposing sewage.”

The residents recently met city authorities to hand in their petition for the municipality to permanently close the manhole as the stench from the manhole is now causing pollution problems in the area and exposing them to diseases.

“We the residents of Marlborough, particularly those of us with properties adjacent to the manhole request (Harare) City Council to immediately close the above-mentioned manhole. We confirm meeting the district officer Mr Bare and his assistant Mrs Nago on site today where we discussed our utmost concern about the sudden surge of sewage trucks disposing sewage on the manhole that is very close to our residential properties.

“The proximity of the manhole is such that the stench from the sewage pollutes the entire atmosphere and is a health hazard. This is totally unacceptable,” the residents wrote in their petition.

They said the spillage of human waste on the surrounding ground will result in the human waste permeating into the underground water table contaminating borehole water.

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