Delay in announcing water pick up sites
Names of 195 points will be ready to be released by tomorrow
WATER collection points are yet to be confirmed by the City, three months before the estimated Day Zero is reached, as technical difficulties have hindered the confirmation of the last sites.
At a media briefing at the Disaster Risk Management Centre yesterday, mayco member for safety, security and social services JP Smith said 195 of the sites would be ready to be released by tomorrow.
However, the last sites are proving to be tough to sort out due to some property owners not being forthcoming, he said.
“The ones with technical difficulties are forcing us to abandon them and find another site or work around difficulties.
“We’re bound to where the reticulation mains lie. Sports fields and opens spaces or parking lots are ideal, but are far from the reticulation points,” said Smith.
Smith said many people had estimated and done the maths regarding how many people could get through the sites, based on assumption on the number of taps at each site, but he said those assumptions were incorrect.
“We will show the correct figures. It’s not realistically possible to show you detailed design of all 200 sites, but we’ll highlight one in each area and show you how they work and how vehicles will get to work,” said Smith.
Meanwhile, the City’s health department is on high alert for disease outbreak as the drought worsens and has warned that unfiltered groundwater and spring water should not be used for consumption, as the water is not monitored or controlled for drinking.
Water-borne diseases such as Typhoid, hepatitis A and Listeria are on the city council’s watch list and the city council is now embarking on a education mission to inform communities on ways to use water and prepare food to prevent disease outbreak.
The City urged residents to avoid cross contamination of water when using grey water in homes as those connecting their borehole tanks to their toilet cistern could get back flow, which will contaminate the potable water.
Residents have also been asked to avoid drinking or using spring water for cooking as only 10 springs are sampled once a month for disease forming agents, such as E coli and coliforms.
“The spring water cannot be guaranteed as safe to drink. People remove warning signs in place, which is a concern for us. You shouldn’t use spring water for drinking or cooking. The springs do not form part of the city council’s water reticulation system and are not monitored and controlled for drinking water standards,” said health programme co-ordinator Christa Hugo.
Hugo advised that grey water and rain water not be stored for longer than a week and bottles used for storage be sanitised before use to avoid water contamination.
The creation of a “tippy tap” which is made by using a plastic tube inserted into the bottom of a two-litre bottle was also encouraged.
This tap will create a small stream for cleansing hands, which will assist with keeping good hygiene, which is one of the biggest contributors to the spread of disease.