Hammanskraal cholera outbreak: ‘Stop passing the bucket’

Hennops Revival founder Tarryn Johnston said people must stop passing the bucket on whose fault the water crisis was and urged everyone to get involved.

“Water belongs to everyone and it affects everyone. Everyone needs to get involved,” she said. WaterCAN, an initiative of the Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (Outa), analysed four random water samples from potable water at Hammanskraal after the cholera outbreak in the area.

Unsafe

Its executive manager Dr Ferrial Adam said the WaterCAN tests showed no cholera in Hammanskraal, but found that water from three of four taps tested in Hammanskraal was unsafe to drink.

“This includes a tap at one of the tanker filling points.” Adam said they analysed four samples taken from two taps, a water tanker and a water tanker filling point.

“The tanker filling point had high levels of total coliform concentration and three sites recorded bacterial counts above drinking water quality standards.”

Adam said it was clear the system was flushed. “This means they have increased the levels of chlorine to clean the water by killing the bacteria.

This would disinfect the water to a safe level as a shortterm solution but over a long period could be a health risk.

“The water may be free of E. coli and cholera but there are still a very high number of other bacteria in the water.

READ MORE: Hammanskraal cholera outbreak: Water experts say they warned government about the issue

Concern

This is a major cause for concern as it indicates either inadequate treatment before it goes into the pipes, or water is secondarily polluted after it leaves the treatment facility. Either way, it remains unsafe for consumption.”

AfriForum’s manager for environmental affairs Lambert de Klerk said it was not surprised by the current cholera outbreak. “AfriForum has been pursuing a court case against the City of Tshwane since 2011 because the Rooiwal sewage works are largely nonfunctional,” he said.

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