Cholera outbreak fears amid Harding sewage spills
The ActionSA chairperson said it hurts most knowing that there are people down the river who drink the contaminated water.
Raw sewage flowing into the Umzimkhulwana River in Harding could possibly lead to a cholera outbreak in the area, if not attended to.
This was a sentiment shared by Zwakele Mncwango, ActionSA KwaZulu-Natal chairperson when he visited a pump station in Harding with a few local farmers.
Mncwango said they received concerns regarding the raw sewage flowing into the river, adding that it is coming from the town of Harding.
“The pumps that are supposed to be cleaning out the sewage are not working. This town has five pumps and none are working. We just heard that only one pump was recently repaired. Farmers are concerned that their cattle are dying because they drink the contaminated water,” said Mncwango.
He added that it hurts most knowing that there are people down the river who drink the contaminated water.
He said he wants to know what the Department of Economic Development, Tourism, and Environmental Affairs is doing to ensure that district municipalities such as Ugu comply with environmental regulations.
One of the farmers, who did not want to be named said: “It is not E-coli that is making our cattle sick, a cow has natural E-coli in its system, it can tolerate a fair amount of it. When I first started losing my animals, I took them to be tested to find out what was happening and that was in 2019. The vet said they can’t understand the full extent of it. It is a superbug, there is no antibiotic that can get rid of it, you can’t tell when an animal has got it, you can take blood but it won’t show. The only time it will show is when the animal starts convulsing and it dies,” he said, adding that they have reported this issue to the Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs.
Meanwhile, Mncwango said: “The value of the farmers’ cattle has decreased because no one wants to buy sick cattle. This has impacted the local economy. We can’t speak about food security when areas that are farming food are being neglected. The solution is to sort out the water issue, we don’t want a cholera outbreak, things like these lead to such sicknesses. The government needs to give this its undivided attention to make sure that they prevent an outbreak.”
In a statement, Ugu District Municipality said it has noted speculations doing rounds regarding possible river water contamination of Umzikhulwana in the Harding area.
“The municipality has assembled a team of technical experts and environmentalists to conduct a full investigation to determine the veracity of the allegations. Aggressive sampling and testing of bacteriological and chemical variables at various points, upstream and downstream of Umzimkhulwana River which is the abstraction source for KwaNyuswa 2 water treatment work is ongoing. The results of turbidity tests show compliance and acceptable drinking water quality standards,” read the statement.
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