Clothing, toys, building rubble go down the drains

Every month Joburg Water (JW) clears more than 4 500 blocked drains and sewers and what they find in those blockages will make your skin crawl.

- Yvonne Grimbeek

Spokesperson Nombuso Shabalala said teams routinely remove problematic items from blocked sewers, including clothing, rags, towels, hair extensions, plastic bags, stones, sand, building rubble and even toys.

"Blocked sewer pipes remain one of the major operational challenges faced by JW and in many instances, these blockages are caused by items that should never be disposed of through the sewer system," she said.

In October, JW cleared 5 278 of the reported 6 448 blocked sewers around the city. Shabalala said these sewer blockages can result in overflows, environmental pollution, health risks, service disruptions and costly emergency repairs.