WATCH: DA to take legal action against eThekwini's sewage 'crisis'

Party leader John Steenhuisen visited the Umbilo Waste Water Treatment Plant on Friday.

The facility is in a state of disrepair, with some parts out of commission.

Raw sewerage gushes from it into the Umbilo River.

Glen Park resident Peter Williams, who lives near the plant, says the stench is unbearable.

"It various from pungent to vomiting to retching where you are actually over the basin and you want to vomit." 

READ: Kaunda: Vandalism to blame for sewerage spillages on Durban beaches

Another local, Sharmin Collins, says the last disaster at the site was sorted out relatively quickly.

"I was here in 1987 when we had cyclone Domoina and this area was cleaned up within three months. This is now over two years, the whole breakdown of the systems I would say the last five years."

Ward 18 Councillor Melanie Brauteseth, who also joined the visit to the plant, says it's become a major health issue for the nearby community.

"Parents don't want to take their children to school anymore because they are breathing in this sewage smell. So it is a big concern, it actually needs to be done not next year, but now.

"Action needs to be done on all our sewage issues across eThekwini. We are going to end up with a huge amount of sick people."

DA leader Steenhuisen says it's a crisis.

"Examining eThekwini's response to this matter and the fact that we believe it is a manufactured crisis to avoid the oversight of procurement processes, that eThekwini Municipality is in breach of the constitution of the environmental management act and of course all those guidelines for the management of wastewater in a municipality."