‘Plant is too squeezed’ – Lekwa municipality to conduct weekly water quality checks

Water and Sanitation Minister Senzo Mchunu has instructed the Lekwa Local Municipality to conduct weekly water quality checks to ensure they deliver residents with clean water.

Mchunu and his deputies, David Mahlobo and Judith Tshabalala, undertook an oversight visit to Lekwa Local Municipality in Mpumalanga on Friday, to assess progress in the intervention projects aimed at addressing water and sanitation challenges.

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This was Mchunu’s follow-up visit since July 202, when the department committed R350 million to assist the Lekwa municipality deal with its water and sanitation challenges.

‘Demand higher than supply’

Addressing the media on Friday, Mchunu said the biggest challenge with the water treatment plant was that it was being “squeezed” beyond its capabilities.

“This is a 37 mega litres per day plant, but they have been pumping at like 40 mega litres per day. It means they are overloading it. If it is made to pump more water than its capacity, it is clear that something will go wrong. This is what is happening here,” said Mchunu.

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“Even after treating water you don’t really meet the standard. It’s because of things morbidity, like they’re saying here is their problem, but it is because of the functionality of the plant, that it is not functioning optimally and the results will follow suit and that’s our challenge here. We came here last year July, things were quite desperate here. There was water and sewer, but we have intervened.”

Water quality

Mchunu said although the department had made progress in the area, things were still moving slowly.

“While going on with the phase we will send our officials back to focus on quality, completing planning of the plant so that it can meet the demand at expected levels. If the plant is too squeezed and the demand is higher than what it can do, it will always be not be able to optimise in terms of treating water to the standard – this is our main challenge.”

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The municipality has been instructed to test the water every week so that “even if we don’t meet the standard, we must always know and alert the public and inform them of the methods to mitigate the problem.”