Makana’s contaminated water supply an ‘acute health risk’

● Municipality failed to warn residents of startlingly high E. coli counts at two public sites

An Eastern Cape municipality has been called a “ticking time bomb” for a potential cholera outbreak, like the one that left more than 15 people dead in Hammanskraal, after E. coli bacteria counts in drinking water at a clinic and school were found to be severely contaminated.

To make matters worse, the municipality issued no warning or “boil notice” to the community.

The Makana Municipality has come under fire by the department of water and sanitation and civil society after tests showed serious contamination of drinking water at the end of February.

Makana has, since then, failed to meet its legal obligation to submit water quality data to the water department, which means the “acute health risk” to those at both Nyaluza school and Joza Clinic could well still be there.

The department has now issued the municipality with a sharply worded notice of noncompliance.

Many have warned that the Makana Municipality’s failure in drinking water and waste water treatment could cause a cholera outbreak similar to the one in Hammanskraal.

The water department said there were serious concerns with the water quality results dated February 28 drawn from drinking water at Joza Clinic and Nyaluza high school.

The water sample from the clinic showed very high traces of E. coli bacteria, at 199 per 100ml, while the sample from the school showed a five per 100m count.

Water quality is measured against standards set in the SA National Standards which requires that there should be no E. coli in drinking water.

This was confirmed by the director of Rhodes University’s Biotechnology Innovation Centre, Prof Janice Limson.

“E. coli in drinking water indicates faecal contamination and requires prompt disinfection as well as follow-up testing.”

The notice from the department to the municipality is sharply critical of the municipality for failing to submit follow-up data for anywhere in the municipality.

By law, municipalities must submit monthly drinking water quality compliance data.

“The supplied water to Joza Clinic as well at Nyaluza High School for E. coli bacteria is still a concern, and noting that E. coli bacteria is considered an ‘acute health risk’,” the notice, dated end-April, said.

Action for Accountability (A4A), a joint initiative of the Public Service Accountability Monitor, Ahmed Kathrada Foundation and Accountability Lab SA, said residents’ “health and wellbeing has been placed at risk by government officials who failed to carry out their legal responsibilities”.

“Schools should be places where learners can develop and grow, and not face serious health risks posed by water that is contaminated.

“A clinic is a place where patients seek medical help — it should not be a place where your health is placed at risk by serious failures caused by municipal staff,” it said in a statement.

A4A sent municipal manager Pumelelo Kate questions, including whether it had notified affected community members of the poor water quality.

But Makana DA councillor Cary Clark said no warnings or boil notifications had been issued in relation to the February results which had now come to light.

“It never happened.”

She warned of the possibility that the high E. coli counts could be caused by cross-contamination between frequent sewage leakages and a possibly compromised water pipe.

She said the compromised drinking water and the failed municipal sewage treatment works meant the city was “sitting on a ticking health time bomb”. Clark was referring to the failed Belmont Waste Water Treatment Works which caused an outcry from farmers and communities downstream from Makhanda.

Raw sewage flows into the Blauwkrantz River into the fertile Belmont Valley between dairy and vegetable farms before reaching the Belmont Valley Golf Course.

Photos have gone viral of a four-metre-thick layer of toxic foam on the once pristine river.

Makhanda resident Megan McCallum last week took photos of the “toxic-smelling” foam.

“The river always smells toxic but when there is rain and the river flows strongly the foam builds,” she said.

Clark previously highlighted massive E. coli counts from samples from that river amounting to up to 30,000 per 100ml.

A4A said certain types of E. coli bacteria could result in serious health conditions.

“Municipalities that fail to manage and ensure quality water supply, while also neglecting sewerage infrastructure, will invariably be implicated in posing health risks to residents, including placing lives at risk.

“Makana Municipality has repeatedly been found wanting.”

It warned that health facilities there were not equipped to deal with a health emergency, such as a cholera outbreak.

When approached for comment, municipal spokesperson Yoliswa Ramokolo said she had directed queries to the responsible officials but no comment was forthcoming by the time of writing.

A global shortage of cholera vaccines is likely to last until 2025 as outbreaks surge worldwide.

Cholera cases and deaths increased worldwide last year.

The World Health Organisation temporarily switched to using one dose of the two-dose vaccine, but they still ran out in December.