It’s a recurring nightmare for the residents of Denham Town, one of Kingston’s largely neglected inner-city communities. Gallons of fetid raw sewage flow freely in the community and through at least two tenements, causing great discomfort and health concerns for a number of families.

The source?

A manhole that keeps overflowing after each attempt to clear it by the National Water Commission (NWC).

“Them (NWC) come and clear it week before last, but a little bit after them leave it start again,” Muriel Francis, who said she has been living on Nelson Street for over 30 years, told the Sunday Observer last Thursday. “Me really want them fi come and fix this before the Christmas because me want to fix up mi yard for the Christmas.”

Francis said that sometimes the amount of waste that flows through her yard is so bad that she has to throw disinfectant on the area to kill the smell.

“The situation so bad that one of my neighbours send him one year-old baby go stay with him grandmother because them no want him get sick,” she said, adding that the persons in her yard had been interviewed by public health representatives and have been given a clean bill of health. “Nobody over here have malaria, but me fraid fi the pickney dem because dem will nuh hear, and just this morning one of dem step inna the dirty water,” Francis said.

The residents said they are concerned that the waste water could be a breeding site for the anopheles mosquito, which carries the malaria parasite, and ultimately fuel the spread of malaria in the community.

Francis and the community got their wish, as NWC workmen went to the community on Friday and fixed the problem.

How long the repair will last is anyone’s guess, for according to Councillor Lorna Leslie (JLP – Denham Town Division), who is also a resident in the community, earlier this month the manhole had overflowed and was fixed by the NWC. However, not even two hours after it was fixed, another manhole, metres away, began to spew raw sewage. Councillor Leslie said that she had made many pleas to the NWC to inspect the other manholes on Nelson Street because she believes that they too are clogged.

“They (NWC) came and they repaired the first one and I said to them whenever you clean that one, open the other one and look if that one is filled up,” she said. “About two hours after, that one began to run because it is in a straight line and while they believe they are cleaning one, things are running down into another one.”

Councillor Leslie said she suspected that the problem was being compounded by waste from a nearby chicken farm, as feathers as well as chicken remains were sometimes seen floating in the waste water.

“Years ago, I spoke to the NWC about it and they told me that they had taken the company to court,” she said. “They told us that the company said that they would have relocated, but to date nothing has happened.”

One family in another tenement where sewage from the manhole formed a pool covered the area with a piece of rusty zinc to prevent children from stepping or playing in it. They have also placed a piece of wood in another section of the yard where the sewage has sprung to prevent anyone from stepping in that area.

“Me throw some farm oil in deh too, fi kill the germs,” one resident said on Thursday. “We try to clean it the other day and the sewage did go down, but as soon as the rain start fall it come back.”