Residents to blame for poor state of sewerage facilities – LWSC

Mon, 03 Jul 2017 09:51:51 +0000

By CHIKUMBI KATEBE

RESIDENTS are to blame for poor state of sewerage facilities in most compounds as they fail to adhere to standard hygiene practices for maintenance of water and sewerage systems in their areas.

Some Lusaka Water and Sewerage Company employees lamented the perpetual blockages and broken down sewer systems especially in overcrowded locations including Matero and Kaunda Square.

The workers said it was unfortunate that many people had been forced to live in filthy and overflowing sewer surroundings because some households had opted to ignore recommended care for infrastructure.

“It is amazing what we find in the blocked pipes which include socks, shoes, pens, kitchen utensils and even whole towels,

“It is common practice these days to discover feotuses blocking the pipes but even after increased sensitization, we still find the same foreign participles obstructing the flow of waste in our systems,’ they said.

In Matero, the sewer system installed a few years ago around the Maiteneke area has established overflowing sewer channels owing to poor management of the million dollars’ worth of infrastructure by the residents.

This was despite efforts by LWSC to establish special linkages with the people to sensitise them on recommendable methods of keeping the system functional.

And investigations have revealed that many residents in the area had refused to pay for solid waste management and opted to use the sewerage system to dispose of their domestic waste which included burnt grass/hedge clearing and anything from the kitchen.

Meanwhile, in Kaunda Square like other compounds, the sewerage system has continually been a challenge owing to overuse and failure to adhere to building planning with structures being built over sewerage pipes thereby exerting pressure and t causing pipe blow-ups.