After being hit hard by the effects of water-shedding, residents of Tumahole in Parys were forced to go to extreme measures to collect water from the exact streams that the department deem to be unsafe for human consumption. 

OFM News reported that photos did rounds on social media depicting senior citizens carrying buckets and fetching water from manholes.

ALSO READ: Free State residents forced to fetch water from manholes

Earlier the Metsimaholo Local Municipality in the Free State was in the spotlight after photos and videos showed what appeared like contaminated water coming from the taps of residents in Deneysville. At some stage besieged residents of the troubled Theunissen-based Masilonyana Local Municipality were ultimately forced to fetch water from small water streams and pipes.

ALSO READ: Videos, pictures of contaminated water in FS municipality surface

The spokesperson for the Department of Water and Sanitation, Wisane Mavasa, urged members of the public to avoid consuming untreated water sourced from such water bodies unless it is first disinfected. She added that the National Institute for Communicable Diseases has also set out some guidelines that should be followed regarding safe drinking water.

Following reports of a cholera outbreak in Hammanskraal and confirmation of 29 deaths including one in Parys, AfriForum Environmental Affairs manager, Lambert de Klerk, came out with claims that water samples that AfriForum and Save Ngwathe took from the Vaal River at Parys on Tuesday tested positive for cholera. 

Mavasa insisted that tap water in the Ngwathe Local Municipality is safe for consumption, as the department has conducted water quality tests on all the sources of drinking water and confirmed that the analyses indicate that treated water reticulated to taps in the area complies with SANS 241 quality requirements and is therefore suitable for human consumption.

“It must be noted that the point in the Vaal River where AfriForum took a sample of water and found the cholera bacterium, is near a sewerage-spilling manhole that is flowing into the Vaal River. It is therefore not surprising that raw water from that part of the river tested positive for cholera. This does not mean that treated water supplied by the municipality contains cholera. Officials of the department have investigated the sewage-spilling manhole and are in the process of issuing a directive to the municipality to stop the pollution.” 

Mavasa says the department is finalising the 2023 Blue Drop Report which will be issued next week and the final one in July, which provides detailed information on the state of drinking water services in all municipalities throughout the country, following an extensive assessment process over the last year.

OFM News