In February, Moya urged residents to refrain from drinking water until testing was completed.
The water woes in Pretoria are ongoing, with many residents in Hammanskraal still waiting for clean, running water.
DA Tshwane mayoral candidate Cilliers Brink has pledged to complete the Hammanskraal clean water project and tackle the water tanker mafia.
Brink said it has been a year since Mayor Nasiphi Moya’s election, and Hammanskraal residents still do not have potable water in their taps, while the city spends more money than ever before on water tankers.
“In 2023, the Tshwane metro and the department of water and sanitation devised a solution to the Hammanskraal water crisis that involved bypassing the polluted Apies River.
Within a few months, Magalies Water completed a modular water treatment plant on the Pienaars River,” he said.
Brink said the Klipdrift package plant can deliver clean water to people’s taps – if Tshwane completes its part of the project. “All four phases of the project should have been done by June this year.”
Concerns about quality
In February, Moya urged residents to refrain from drinking water until testing was completed following concerns about the quality of supplies through the new Klipdrift Magalies water package.
“This situation contrasts with the laboratory-tested water quality recorded in January when supply was first restored to wards 49, 73, 74 and 75, specifically communities including Mandela Village, Marokolong, Ramotse, Kekana Gardens [Steve Bikoville] and Babelegi Industrial,” she said.
The Klipdrift package plant project was a short-term intervention while the city works on refurbishing the Rooiwal wastewater treatment works.
Moya said the Klipdrift package plant was being implemented in four phases and was expected to be completed mid-2025.
Hennops Revival founder Tarryn Johnston previously said the water situation was getting worse.
‘A festering cesspool’
“It’s not about parties, it’s a deep cultural wounding that will continue to be a septic, festering cesspool of death and decay as long as we weaponise, politicise and prioritise profits over health,” she said.
Johnston said the authorities don’t want the water issues resolved because there would be nothing to steal if the water were clean and naturally mineralised, instead of chlorinated.
“This game with water is older than all of us,” she added.
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