by Vanessa Knight – EM TV, Port Moresby
A family in Tokarara has been living with a sewerage spillover in of their front yard for almost a year, despite countless requests to the office of Eda Ranu to rectify the problem.
Although sewerage problems are quite common in Port Moresby, it poses serious health risks for residents who live in the affected areas.
Since June last year, Barbara Korror and her family have been living with this sewer spillover, which continuously gushes out raw sewerage from a sewer port onto the lawn and eventually into the main roadside drainage system.
Barbara says the foul smelling odor from the spillover is unbearable, and has resulted in complaints from her neighbors and people who walk along the street.
This has also affected her family in a large way, and children have been prevented from playing in front of the house for hygiene and safety reasons.
According to Barbara, the spillage was attended to several times by Eda Ranu, however the problem was not fixed. She said their last attempt was in October last year, when they promised to return and fix the problem but to date, have not returned, leaving her family desperate for a solution.
Across from Barbara’s house is the St Johns Primary School where children have to walk past the spillage to get to, and where mothers gather to sell food to school children.
Barbara says since the spillage started, there has been a dramatic decrease in the number of mothers selling cooked food in the area.
According to residents in the area, the problem intensifies when heavy rainfall is experienced. The roads become flooded with a mixture of rainwater and sewerage waste, leaving school children and other people using the street no choice but to wade through the sludge.
Sewerage leaks are known to lead to cholera and dysentery outbreaks; consequently, such spillages can be a recipe for disaster when left unattended by authorities.
