Health at risk by water crisis

HYGIENE: CAPE TOWN GRAPPLES WITH TYPHOID, LISTERIA

Don’t try to purify dirty water and boil natural spring water before consumption.

Officials in Cape Town yesterday appealed to residents to be vigilant against health risks caused by efforts to save or reuse water, as the city’s drought worsens.

The city is grappling with a listeriosis outbreak and a doubling of typhoid cases in the past year.

It has now urged residents to continue hand-washing to maintain hygiene standards – despite water shortages.

“This is the season where the germs have a way of propagating and spreading,” the city’s health manager, Virginia de Azevedo, said.

“We are talking faecal-oral contamination of the water, the food and the hands ... In the health facilities, we are all on alert.”

De Azevedo warned that hand sanitiser gels were often an inadequate substitute for washing with potable water.

“You can wash your hands without wasting water,” she said.

Capetonians have been urged to use only 50l of water per day in an effort to delay the arrival of Day Zero, when most residents will have their taps shut off.

After Day Zero, currently forecast for May 11, many of the 4 million residents will be forced to queue at about 200 standpipes for a daily allocation of 25l. Health officials also warned that residents could be putting themselves in danger by trying to purify dirty water, not boiling natural spring water before consumption and using untested boreholes. “If they are taking water from the springs they must boil it or use purification tablets,” said De Azevedo. “We are aware that cholera is a very big threat and that typhoid is a very big threat,” she added, referring to other parts of the world that have also suffered chronic water shortages. – AFP

Gels are often inadequate for washing hands.