E.coli infested stream poses health risk
"The public must stay away from the stream adjacent to Bernadotte Street and Toti Lagoon due to extremely high amounts of E.coli and faecal coliforms in the water."
That is the warning from AfriForum spokesman for KZN, Chris Fourie after a second batch of water tests in the area indicated unit counts exceeded 100,000 times the legal limit.
The tests were initiated after AfriForum placed the eThekwini municipal manager on terms over the illegal sewage spill that took place earlier in the year in Bernadotte Street.
A letter was emailed to the municipal manager, Sibusiso Sithole on 19 September, but to date no response has been forthcoming.
AfriForum also sent a letter to the Department of Water Affairs in which the civil rights organisation expressed its concern regarding the quality of the water in the stream. The organisation also appealed to the department to intervene urgently.
“A second batch of water tests with Dawn Bester of BN Kirk Laboratories was conducted on Monday, 14 October after the first test on 28 August. The latest test results show this water has an E.coli count of over 10-million and faecal coliforms of over 14-million per 100ml of water.” The SAGS 2004 discharge limit into natural watercourse is 1,000 units per 100ml of water.
Kingsway High School pumps water from this stream for irrigation of their sport fields.
“AfriForum has instructed its legal team to draft documents to bring a criminal complaint against the city manager,” said Chris. “We also encourage the community to identify sewage spills and submit the information to us.”
To join AfriForum, SMS the name of your town to 31336 (at a cost of 50c per SMS).
