PLETTENBERG BAY NEWS - The owners of two prominent environmental establishments in The Crags near Plettenberg Bay have raised the alarm about a health and environmental risk facing Kurland Village and its residents.
Lara Mostert, owner of Monkeyland, and Len Freeman, owner of Teniqua Wildlife Rehabilitation and Awareness Centre, have both appealed to the Bitou Municipality to take urgent action to prevent further damage to the village, which has an open gully running through it that becomes a health hazard during the rainy season.
The polluted water and effluent, added to by a sometimes malfunctioning sewage pump station, eventually flows into the Buffels River and has caused environmental damage to trees and the natural vegetation.
"It is an environmental headache," says Freeman. "It kills everything in its path."
The gully is filled with dammed-up pools and piles of plastic bottles and rubbish.
"Raw sewage trickles into the gully and dead dogs, cats, used disposable nappies, used condoms and even syringes have been found in the water," says Mostert.
She says the municipality does clear the water course from time to time, "but it's like putting a band-aid on an open wound", and something more permanent has be done to eliminate the health hazard.
David Paulse who has been living in Kurland Village for 35 years says conditions are "terrible" and have been like this for years. He says the municipality did clear the gully about a month ago, but the debris was piled up on the banks and washed back into the gully as soon as there was more rain.
Freeman says the local sewage pump station is inefficient and adds to the environmental problem when it cannot cope with excess effluent.
"Something must be done about this," says Freeman.
A Bitou Municipality spokesperson said they were alerted to the problem and the manhole issue has been attended to and fixed.
"Please can the public call our customer care line to alert us to any problem - it's the quickest way for us to react and would greatly assist us," said the spokesperson.
In this case, the mayor's office was contacted without the exact location, causing more delays.
Used disposable nappies, dead animals, used condoms and syringes have been found in the gully.
Children are exposed to pollution.
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