Klipgat’s water woes addressed

COURT ORDER COMPELS MADIBENG MUNICIPALITY TO TACKLE SERIOUS PROBLEM Tests on water in tanks reveal it is unfit for human consumtpion.

The SA Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) has obtained an urgent court order to force the Madibeng municipality to increase water deliveries to the Klipgat township in North West, where people often have to queue through the night for water.

Judge Bill Prinsloo, in the High Court in Pretoria, ordered the municipality to increase the number of water deliveries to Klipgat to three times a week and to disinfect the water trucks and JoJo tanks on site once a month, pending an application aimed at finding a long-term solution for the settlement’s water problems.

The SAHRC approached the court after Madibeng, in November last year, made a written undertaking to improve the water supply to Klipgat but then sat back and did nothing.

The settlement, which has no piped water, is home to about 3 500 households comprising mostly unemployed residents relying on old age and child care grants and living in desperate poverty.

Counsel for the SAHRC, Emma Webber, argued that residents often had to queue for hours in an attempt to get water, available on a first-come, first-serve basis.

This meant that local businesses often drew the bulk of the water from the tanks while the elderly, disabled and children further back in the queue were frequently left with nothing and had to spend a portion of the little money they had to buy water from vendors at a premium rate.

She said residents were forced to walk to the tanks and queue late at night or in the early morning, which caused especially the female residents to feel unsafe. Many of the elderly residents were also simply unable to travel to the tanks, resulting in many receiving no water.

Webber said the water that was delivered by the municipality was seldom enough, and was also not safe for human consumption.

Residents complained that the water turned yellow, brown, green or red after a few days and that there were worms in it.

A number of residents suffered from stomach ailments or skin rashes and children were often sick and missed school as a result.

Water samples from the tanks were sent for testing and were found to contain unacceptably high levels of E coli. The water was deemed unfit for human consumption. –