Tests clear drinking water in Lowveld
AfriForum recently tested the water in various Mpumalanga cities and found that drinking water in the province is clean and does not contain any heavy metals, but warned that treated waste water in all municipalities is not up to standard.
MBOMBELA – The civil rights organisation tested water in Machadodorp, Lydenburg. White River, Mbombela, Piet Retief, Ermelo, Belfast and Dullstroom in May, to determine the quality of the drinking and treated waste water.
According to AfriForum’s regional coordinator for Mpumalanga East, Johann Weber, bacteria levels in the drinking water adhere to applicable standards.
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He expressed his concern, however, regarding the treated waste water which does not adhere to the applicable standards, and the municipalities responsible.
He emphasised that in the City of Mbombela the waste-water treatment plants managed by private service provider, Silulumanzi Sembcorp, complied with standards, but that within the municipality as a whole, there are plants which did not 
comply.
Our rivers are continuously being polluted by inefficient sewerage networks, which as a result of poor maintenance by the local municipalities, are continuously declining and threatening the quality of our water resources.
“This is a fairly common occurrence, but we know there is money budgeted to do the maintenance and if municipalities are able to effectively manage their financial resources, waste water standards would improve.”
AfriForum’s national blue and green drop project focuses on the quality of the drinking water and sewerage plants of towns.
Also read: 4 ways we waste water in South Africa
The project does not necessarily focus on the condition of the plant itself, but rather on the quality of water released after the process as an end result in the form of drinking water (blue drop) and treated sewage (green drop).
There is a risk that if waste water is not up to standard and is contaminating the resource (rivers), and there is a breakdown at a drinking water works which purify the water from the resource, it could pose a serious health risk to residents,” Weber added.
