Hammanskraal water is safe, city assures residents

Residents of Hammanskraal have nothing to worry about, despite the Rooiwal Waste Water Treatment Plant shutting down at the weekend, the City of Tshwane says.

The Tshwane region of the ANC, however, yesterday slammed the DA-led administration for being “arrogant”, since the shutdown of the plant led to the spillage of contaminated water into the Apies River, which supplies the Temba Water Purification Plant.

“The ANC is utterly dismayed by the continued arrogance and ignorance of the mayor [Solly Msimanga] under whose nose we have witnessed the deterioration of the Rooiwal Water Treatment Plant, and downward spiral of basic services across the city,” said Tshwane ANC spokesperson Teboho Joala.

“The ANC caucus has raised this matter with the ever-incompetent MMC of utility services [Darryl] Moss on a number of occasions but to this end, the water treatment plant remains unmaintained and dysfunctional.”

The shutdown was due to a serious case of cable theft, Moss told The Citizen yesterday, which led to no power supply to the plant.

“Because there was no power being fed to the plant, we had to stop [operations] for a couple of hours while we replaced the cable. The plant was up and running by 6pm on Saturday,” Moss said.

Due to the shutdown, semi-treated sewage spilled into the Apies River for a few hours, but did not affect drinking water, Moss explained.

“The river is on a continuous flow and by the time it reaches the Temba Water Purification Plant, it is diluted. The spillage this weekend wasn’t sufficient to contaminate the drinking water.”

The city recently appointed a consulting engineer to help with the expansion of the plant, as it was treating around 200 million litres of sewage per day. Since 2010, the city’s largest sewage treatment works was operating above its design capacity, leaving the plant to deteriorate over the years.

According to the ANC, traces of faeces were found in the drinking water, posing a danger to residents.

“We will not sit and be spectators while our people are being subjected to such hazardous and inhumane conditions, when mayor Msimanga and his DA cohort enjoys world-class services in their affluent suburbs,” said ANC councillor Jane Makgatho.

But Moss refuted the claims as mere politicking. “The people of Hammanskraal have nothing to worry about. This is just a political exercise to discredit the current administration,” he said.

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