SIX manholes in the vicinity of OCT Harbor in Nanshan District have been found leaking sewage at 5 or 6 p.m. until 8 or 9 p.m. every day for two years, bringing great inconvenience to pedestrians and residents in the area, the Southern Metropolis Daily reported.

According to a resident surnamed Liu, he recently passed by the intersection of Baishi Road and Haiyuan Road 2, and found sewage continuously coming up from the manholes, causing the road section to smell of sewage and dirtying the ground around it.

Liu inquired a number of residents living in the neighborhood about the sewage discharge and learned that it has persisted for two years.

A reporter with the Daily went to the site Sunday and saw foul-smelling water stains on the ground around the area.

A man surnamed Rong, who runs a kiosk at the intersection, told the reporter that the six manholes start oozing out sewage at 5 or 6 p.m. and don’t stop until 8 or 9 p.m. “It’s been like this on and off for two years,” he said.

Rong’s words were also confirmed by a man identified as Wang, who works nearby. “Every day when I pass by at 9 p.m., I see the road surface is full of water. It is almost two centimeters deep,” Wang said.

He said the sewage is very smelly, and there are shopping malls and scenic spots such as OCT Harbor and Wetland Park that attract tourists. “This may cause inconvenience to tourists and also affect the image of Shenzhen as a city.”

A sanitation worker surnamed Li, who is in charge of the hygiene of the road section, told the reporter that in order to improve the situation, she has repeatedly filed reports to relevant departments over the past two years, but it remains unresolved.

According to staffers with Shenzhen Water Group, due to historical reasons, the builder that constructed the OCT Harbor encountered problems when constructing the supporting sewage pipe network which resulted in low pipe positions and small pipe diameters.

As OCT Harbor continued business expansion, the amount of sewage output increased dramatically, resulting in sewage spillage.

The group said they are building new sewage pipelines to solve the problem.

(Zhang Yu)