POLOKWANE – The municipality has denied allegations that the city’s drinking water is polluted.
This after the civil rights organisation, AfriForum said high levels of E.Coli were found in the city’s water.
AfriForum collected samples of the city’s drinking water for analysis at a South African National Accreditation System (Sanas) accredited laboratory on February 26. The test results showed high levels of E.Coli (a bacterium that can cause serious infections) in Polokwane’s drinking water last Thursday.
Morné Mostert, organiser for AfriForum in Limpopo said they were concerned about the health of Polokwane residents after their tests traced high levels of E.Coli in the city’s drinking water.
“With continuous exposure, residents face a risk of microbial infection. The water is however fine for other purposes like bathing in and washing,” he said.
The tests conducted in the city formed part of AfriForum’s national Blue and Green Drop branch project.
“These tests were done at Hoërskool Pietersburg as they are getting their water directly from the Polokwane Municipality,” Mostert said.
AfriForum expected the municipality to inform the community of the health risk, and they should provide clean drinking water to residents immediately, he added.
Julius Kleynhans, head of environment affairs at AfriForum said the E.Coli levels in samples taken from homes surpassed the maximum permissible level.
“It gives rise to the question of whether the water purification plant is being managed properly. If the water is treated with chlorine, it will lessen the presence of E.Coli bacteria. The results of the tests, however, indicate that the water is not treated effectively,” he said.
In response, the municipality invited AfriForum for a joint sampling to confirm their claims as the municipality was not involved at the sampling of the alleged high E.Coli sample in the city.
Mostert said AfriForum never received any invitation from the municipality, but the organisation was more than willing to accompany the municipality in doing more tests.
Tidimalo Chuene, a municipal spokesperson said the municipality carried out laboratory tests on a continuous basis, and municipal records indicated that the municipality never had any microbiological failure in the previous year up to this point.
“The drinking water is safe, there is continuous chlorination at all our water treatment plants and there is free chlorine in the water that will render E.Coli to be 0 counts/100ml. There are many factors that can lead to false results of high E.Coli, for example the sample must be taken by a trained person, in the case of AfriForum we do not have evidence if this is the case,” Chuene said.
She added the municipality will continue to sample all the areas in the city and will continue to supply safe water to communities.
“There is no need for residents to purify their water as municipal water is safe for domestic purpose,” Chuene confirmed.
