‘There’s mud in our tap water’
Municipality blames pipe leaks, Eskom
THE Rustenburg municipality blames the poor quality of water on “pipe bursts in the water networks” and “frequent Eskom power failures”.
Municipal spokesman Thapelo Matebesi said investigation revealed “pipe bursts in the water networks cause dirty water in the distribution system, where mud and sand enter the water during the pipe breakage”.
The municipality has taken water samples to laboratories for testing, and continues to flush out the pipes after maintenance work.
“In the meantime, we advise residents to let the water run for a while when it is dirty,” he said. “This sporadic discoloured water is the supply from the Magalies Vaalkop Water Purification Works; it feeds into the Bospoort reservoir system.”
Matebesi said “frequent Eskom power failures have a serious influence on the water purification system and water quality, causing chemical dosing, high amounts of iron and manganese in the water from the plant, resulting in the brown colour in the water when chlorine is added”.
Bulk suppliers Rand Water, Magalies Water and Water Solution South Africa “are in the process of dealing with the root cause of the problem”.
When interruptions happened, the municipality provided water tankers to affected areas.
DA MP and shadow minister of water Leon Basson said besides “bad quality water”, Rustenburg also has a shortage . He said nearby towns had similar problems. – THE tap water is so bad that it damages kettles, makes mielie meal change colour from white to yellow and leaves those who drink it violently ill.
Cecilia Motsumi, 42, of Ramochana in Rustenburg, North West, was hospitalised for a week late last year, suffering from a severe running stomach.
Nurses told her that her sickness was caused by drinking contaminated water.
“The water from the taps is dirty. It’s got a reddish, rusty colour. If you drink this water you get sick. It gives you a running stomach,” said Deborah Kobedi who has lived in Ramochana since 2005.
This is the cry of residents in the Rustenburg local municipality.
Sowetan interviewed residents of various areas – including Rustenburg town, Rustenburg North, Tlhabane, Ramochana and Sunrise Park – who confirmed that their tap water is contaminated.
Residents said they started to notice that their tap water was a reddish, rusty colour.
The taps also sometimes run dry for days on end.
And when the water is restored, residents said, it looks like mud.
Now, bottled water has become a much sought-after resource in the area, which according to the Census 2011 is the most populous in the province, with as many as 549 575 people.
Kobedi spends R30 to buy 10 litres of drinking water daily. A five-litre container costs R15 from spaza shops that are doing a roaring trade selling bottled water.
But unemployed people such as Motsumi can no longer keep up and have to find other ways of ensuring the tap water doesn’t make them sick.
Motsumi’s house is a museum of more than a dozen empty five- and 10-litre containers which is testimony to the money the unemployed mother has spent on bottled water since November last year.
“I have run out of money,” said Motsumi. “I can no longer afford to buy water.”
Desperate residents have devised ways of purifying the water.
Motsumi said after pouring the water into 25-litre containers, she leaves it overnight so that the brownish silt settles at the bottom.
Then she boils the water in a two-litre kettle.
But this process, residents revealed, takes a toll on their budgets with the amounts they spend on prepaid electricity.
After this, the water is ready for cooking and drinking. But to save electricity, residents do not boil the water they use for bathing.
“We have no choice but to bath with this water. Whether it will cause damage to our skin in the long term, we do not know,” said Motsumi.
Residents said the quality of the water is so bad that it damages electrical appliances such as irons and kettles with its corrosive effect.