RESIDENTS of Celebes Lane in Seaview Gardens, St Andrew, are begging the National Water Commission (NWC) to rectify a blocked manhole which they said is making their lives a “stinking hell”.

For more than two years sewage lines in the pathway — located near to the police station in phase two of the community — have been blocked, causing faeces to flow back into the houses of the citizens.

Some have had their belongings flooded on many occasions by the pungent mixture, which is now making many people sick, the residents claim.

“It’s really killing us, God knows! We can’t manage it anymore. Them need to come do something about it. All of us are getting sick,” said Ronald Stewart, pointing to the front of his yard where a stream of sewage mixed with morass, garbage and wild bush greets visitors upon arrival.

Bottles of disinfectant and household bleach fail to quell the stench, which has now taken over that entire section of the community.

And now the problem is getting worse, the affected residents say.

They claim that they have made numerous calls to the NWC, and that representatives of the company has on many occasions visited the area, promising to do something about the problem. The most recent, they said, was about December last year.

Then, Stewart said, a Mr Hewitt from the NWC told residents that the pipe was blocked far beneath the ground, and that it was difficult to access with heavy-duty drilling equipment due to the tight lane space.

Stewart said that he was told that if the residents were willing to dig to the pipe with shovels, the service company would then send team members to fix the blocked pipe.

But more than four months after residents accepted the offer and dug up a section of the pathway, the NWC workmen are yet to show up. Now residents are left with an ever-widening ‘sewage pit’, which has become a breeding ground for mosquitoes, and a hazard for pedestrians using the walkway.

“They (NWC) came here about three times and they told about eight of us that if we willing to go down in it and dig it up then they will come fix it. Only manpower could get to it,” continued Stewart, adding that he was among the first persons who dug up the pathway.

“From that time till now nobody don’t come back come look at it, and that is what it has come to now. The hole is widening, about to break down the people dem wall, and mosquito a build up in it. Not to mention when the rain fall; nobody can’t walk there at those times,” he lamented.

Cashae Wilson, mother of two children aged eight years, and five months, said that despite her children falling ill due to the sewage, she has no choice but to climb over the gaping hole to get to her house. The hole is directly in front of her gate.

“It (sidewalk) is breaking away and people can’t walk. I have to hold on to the wall when I am walking with my baby them past it and every day it is getting wider,” she said. “My babies are getting sick; right now some things (rashes) start come on my baby’s skin and I know that it is because of the pit,” she said, speculating that mosquitoes from the hole may have transmitted bacteria to her child.

Charles Buchanan, corporate public relations manager at the NWC, assured the Jamaica Observer that he would look into the matter.

“There have been frequent problems with sections of the sewage infrastructure in Seaview Gardens, but my official response to you would be that I will have it referred to the waste water section for them to investigate and respond as quickly as possible,” he said.

“I don’t know what this particular problem is, but one of the networking problems we have is that some parts of Seaview Gardens were not properly connected to the NWC system so there are sewage issues in some sections,” he continued, adding that the sewage problems are compounded by inadequate drainage infrastructure.

Some residents also blamed their member of Parliament Anthony Hylton for his inability to make representation on their behalf to have the lingering matter resolved.

Hylton, some claimed, had neglected the plight of the residents of Seaview Gardens and had failed to address some of the pressing problems that existed, including the sewage issue, as well as the poor roads in the community which was highlighted in the Monday, April 2 edition of the Observer.