If you’ve ever strolled through Delta Park in Blairgowrie — perhaps with a coffee in hand, a dog tugging on the lead, or the Joburg sun warming your back — you’d never guess that this serene landscape was once the beating heart of the city’s sanitation system.

Popular storyteller Al Prodgers went digging into its past, and what he uncovered is… well, less picnic blanket and more plumbing.

Listen to his report for HOT 1027 News below:

But Joburg grew faster than the engineers expected. Within five years, the Delta Works was already running at full capacity.

By 1963 the plant was decommissioned, and the city shifted to a new sewerage strategy built around vast concrete pipelines — many still visible near Dainfern and Diepsloot.

In 1978, the site was transformed into the Delta Park and Environmental Centre, marking the beginning of the park we know and love today. Walking trails replaced settling ponds. Picnic spots replaced sludge beds. And Joburg gained one of its most beloved green lungs.

So the next time the grass at Delta Park seems especially green… just remember — history might have helped fertilise it.

Photos courtesy the Delta Park Facebook group.