Members of Emalahleni Local Municipality and Witbank SAPS were called to the scene on Friday July 4, at around 12:00, where the unknown man was discovered floating in the water.
The man could not yet be identified, but was estimated to be about 30 years old. Further investigations showed no visible injuries on the body and the cause of death was not made known before print.
The carcasses of two small dogs were also found drifting near the body. It is unknown whether the body and carcasses hold any relation, but according to experts; wind and water-flow could be contributing factors to where things end up in the water – meaning that the body and carcasses might not even have ended up in the water at the same time.
Mr Theo van Vuuren, the city’s administrator, informed the community about the tragedy on Friday, by posting the following on his Facebook page:
“Today a body of a man and those of two dogs were found floating in the quarry reservoir in Ext 8. The time and cause of death have not yet been determined. I was on the scene with Col Oosthuizen from the SAPS. The SAPS has recovered the body and will be conducting an investigation. At this stage I don’t want to speculate about what may have lead to this tragedy. This does in no way affect our water supply nor quality as this reservoir is not providing water directly to the public.”
The water stored in the quarry reservoir comes directly from the dams and is therefore seen as ‘raw water’. According to Rand Water: raw water from dams can contain different ‘passengers’ such as large water plants and animals (fish, crabs, floating plants, etc.); sticks, leaves and litter; sand, silt and clay particles; small water plants and animals (small insects, algae, plankton, etc.); germs (viruses and bacteria) and a variety of other bad minerals (iron, aluminum, manganese, etc.).
Before the water ends up in our taps it has to go through a purification process. Rand Water explains the process in steps: Screening, Coagulation and Flocculation, Carbonation, Filtration and Chlorination. After purification the water is carried to an enclosed reservoir – ready to be fed through to the taps.
*The reservoir is fenced off and the municipality warns that it is illegal for the public to enter.
