Gauteng drinking water free of typhoid
There is no need of fear that Gauteng’s drinking water is contaminated with contagious typhoid bacteria, Rand Water’s Francois van Wyk said on Monday.
“We had a meeting this morning. Rand Water will soon be sending out a press release.”
Last week warnings surfaced of a Typhoid outbreak in parts of the country. Water users have been warned to be careful when using water.
According to Van Wyk, manager of the Vaal River Barrage catchment, the outbreak was primarily reported in North West Province. It was not found in that province’s municipal drinking water.
In Gauteng 45 cases were recently reported. Rand Water says it could be potentially be in places where water pools have formed, because of the high rainfall in recent weeks. It is not considered a threat in the Vaal Barrage because local residents have by now developed strategies to not make use of the river’s raw water, van Wyk said.
According to the water sector and the National Institute of Communicable Diseases, the situation could potentially be linked to artisanal miners (Zama Zamas) in North West Province. They use sewage wastewater in their mining and refining process when extracting gold.
