Smelly overflow turns settlement into three years of stink

FOR three years, people living at B-Side Settlement at the back of Bugandi Secondary School in Lae have had to live with waste from the sausage factory at 2-Mile.
Gusa Yaap, a blockholder who has been living in the area for more than 15 years, said two freshwater wells had been contaminated by waste from the factory.
He said the settlers at Zero Block and people living at the back of Bugandi were affrected.
Lae City Council closed the factory yesterday and said it will remain shut until it complied with health and building requirements.
Yaap said when people at B-Side had dug two wells.
The roots of sago palms, which used to grow there, made the water clean and people used it for cooking, drinking and laundry.
“When the production of sausages began three years ago, the workers started to pour waste into 2-Mile stream,” Yaap said.
“Heavy rain and flooding caused the stream to divert its flow.
“The waste was carried down right into the two wells.”
He said there are more than 25 blockholders living with their family in that area.
For three years, people have been collecting water from relatives with access to a water supply.
“Water has become our main problem since, and it is a huge disadvantage for us,” Yaap said.
“We have been carrying water containers to fetch water because we are scared to use the contaminated well.
“We have dug another well but we use it for laundry and washing only.
“We might develop some kind of sickness if this factory keeps pouring its waste into the river system.”
On Thursday, April 12, following complaints by a family at Zero Block, The National visited the factory and was told that a septic tank had been built to store the waste.
Wang Chen Limited general manager Hui Chan said the company had complied with health and building requirements and installed a septic tank to store waste.
However, the people of Zero Block and B-Side Block said the the septic tank often overflowed into 2-Mile stream.