The quality of water in eMalahleni has been the topic on everyone’s lips as of late.

Pictures of yellow, brown, discoloured water and complaints of a foul smell in the water have been causing huge concern among residents.

To give residents peace of mind and find out what really lies within our water, WITBANK NEWS was invited by Yanka Labs to have testing done and to be a part of the official process that has to be followed when testing water to make a public statement regarding the quality.

Take a walk through the process of collecting official water samples for testing with us:

It all starts at the lab, where sealed, sterile bottles, sterile latex gloves, and hundreds of alcohol swabs are loaded into a car.

There can be no outside contamination and all sterile consumables were provided by the lab to ensure the integrity of the tests.

Ms Petricia Rautenbach, a lab technician and analyst for Yanka Labs, first put on new surgical gloves before touching anything.

Then she ensured that the taps at collection points were sterilised and free of contamination. The water was left to run for a while to ensure any alcohol residue from the swabs was washed away for an accurate water sample.

The water was then poured into the sterile containers and sealed shut. They will only be reopened under the required controls at the lab. The bottles were marked with the date and point of collection.

Only Petricia handled the bottles during the pouring process to ensure no outside organisms entered the bottle. A new pair of gloves was also used in-between each sampling.

WITBANK NEWS documented the collection processes at each point for transparency and accuracy.

Various random locations were selected as follows: Water distribution tanks in the parking lot of Ben Fleur Boulevard, Reyno Ridge in Dixon Street, Klipfontein as well as municipal water from Ben Fleur and Tasbet Park.

“Water dropped off at labs by residents in their own containers might not be an accurate reflection of what is in the municipal water and water at distribution points. There is no way for the lab to verify where the water actually comes from and if the container it was brought in, was sterile. Contaminants can enter the water from taps that stand exposed to the elements, as well as the hands of people handling bottles. This is why it is critical for the samples to be taken by a lab technician if the results are for public use. If harmful elements are found in the water, it has to be confirmed and verified by a second independent laboratory,” WITBANK NEWS was told by Ms Rita Botha, director of Yanka Labs.

The water from the various points will be put through a variety of advanced testing to check manganese levels and for any possible harmful bacteria. The results of the tests will be posted early next week.

Yanka Labs is an accredited analytical laboratory established in 1998. The company boasts more than 60 years of analytical laboratory experience.

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