PRETORIA - Strict measures have been issued to the City of Tshwane (CoT) after it failed to warn residents of Bronkhorstspruit, Pretoria East, that their water was unsafe.
More than 400 cases of gastrointestinal illness have been reported in the area since early this month.
Most of those affected are under the age of four.
Now the city is working on increasing the supply of clean drinking water to affected communities. This includes the deployment of a total of 36 water tankers.
Water and Sanitation Minister, Pemmy Majodina, revealed this at a meeting on Monday.
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She said an investigation found that water from the Bronkhorstspruit Water Treatment Works (BWTW) was unchlorinated from 24 September to 14 October after the city experienced issues with its chlorine supplier.
She said water quality tests found extremely high levels of E. coli and total coliforms in the water emanating from the treatment plant.
“Since 14 October, CoT has been distributing drinking water to residents using water tankers. The water tankers obtain water from the Cullinan WTW, and CoT and the Department of Water and Sanitation have conducted laboratory tests on the water from the Cullinan WTW, which indicate that the water is safe to drink.”
Other measures in place include further tests being conducted to confirm whether any other harmful contaminants are present in the water.
Additionally, more specimens have been collected by the National Institute for Communicable Diseases.
This, according to Majodina, will strengthen the epidemiological evidence and help determine whether a formal outbreak declaration is required.
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She said the city is in the process of appointing Rand Water as an implementing agent to address these issues after an investigation also found that various components of the BWTW were not working, such as pumps, sand filters, and other mechanical equipment.
“Together with DWS engineers, Rand Water is in the process of developing an implementation plan with timeframes in this regard… At this stage, it is not possible to give a timeframe for when residents will again be able to drink water emanating from BWTW.”