‘Our water is safe to drink’ – Durban city manager
Following many messages being shared on social media and Whatsapp groups, the city issued a statement to allay fears about the safety of tap water in Durban.
FOLLOWING a spate of water contamination issues in Northern KwaZulu-Natal over the past week, fears that the water from taps in Durban homes was also not safe to drink went viral on social media.
A story which was published in November last year by a Durban-based newspaper resurfaced and is believed to have raised the current alarm.
One WhatsApp message doing the rounds, read: “Hi we watched Etv news now. Gave warning that tap water in Durban KwaZulu-Natal must not drink because waterborne diseases has been detected (sic).”
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Carmen Duncan, who runs a residents’ information group on WhatsApp warned people about unconfirmed stories doing the rounds.
“There was a post going around yesterday about Confirmed Unsafe Water from our Waterplant – it was from 2018,” she said on Tuesday (2 April) after many members of her group sent messages wanting confirmation about the warnings being shared.
On Tuesday morning, the city manager of eThekwini Municipality, Sipho Nzuza, was quoted in a statement issued by the city that water delivered to all residents is not contaminated.
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Nzuza said his statement was necessary due to the city being overwhelmed with calls about water safety.
“We are very concerned about the lies that our water is not clean. Water is very important in sustaining human life and under no circumstances shall we compromise on that. We have water experts working for the city who are responsible for ensuring that without fail we provide clean water that is safe to drink. Even the water that we happen to provide with water tankers in times of emergencies is clean,” said Nzuza.
Nzuza said there was news being spread to the effect that in certain areas water is laden with pathogens which are microorganisms that have a deadly potential to trigger diseases such as diarrhea.
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