By Khanyisa Khenese
The water crisis in Makhanda seems far from over, from wastage due to pipe bursts and leaking pipes and valves to almost empty reservoirs and clean water mixing with raw sewage, causing contamination and illness.
In recent developments, the Community Water Testing Laboratory at the Rhodes University Biotechnology Innovation Centre (RUBIC) has detected high levels of E.coli from a tap water sample taken at a home along Blackbeard Street in Makhanda.
On 3 May, RUBIC in collaboration with PSAM and Action for Accountability (A4A) did a community water testing drive. The test was repeated and similar results were obtained. However, the water samples taken from a Hooggenoeg outdoor house tap, eNkanini informal settlement, Extension 9, outdoor house in Nkonjane Street, NG Dlukulu Clinic, Extension 7, eThembeni informal settlement and Siyazama Creche in Extension 6, showed no contamination with E.coli or other coliforms.
E.coli is an intestinal infection that happens due to consumption of contaminated water. In a statement, RUBIC stated, “The presence of E.coli in drinking water indicates the presence of fecal contamination and requires prompt disinfection and follow-up testing to ensure that disinfection is effective.”
It has come to the attention of Grocott’s Mail that over the past two weekends residents in the Albany Road area complained about infrequent water supply, along with a slight sewage coming from some household taps and a spate of sore stomachs. The municipality was reportedly notified but did not act, according to the reports.
This prompted an oversight visit by DA councillors Harry Porthen and Geoff Embling on Monday, 6 May.
They discovered water bubbling up from a broken pipe on the boundary of the Oval sports field, and raw sewage was seen flowing from another area and mixing with the water.
“The source of the problem is at the upper end of Albany Road or Currie Street junction, where a large sewage leak mixes with a nearby water leak forming a huge foul-smelling pool on the road below Mary Waters Secondary School. This concoction flows all the way down Albany Road and into a concrete drain, diverted down to the boundary of the Oval sports field at Blackbeard Street,” Embling said.
In response to the E.coli detection, Makana municipal manager Phumelelo Kate said all water for consumption is treated but “there will be instances when the samples will indicate that there’s higher E.coli than it is expected”.
He added that their team is going to sample all the points that have been identified until they are certain. “We need to check what is the cause for that so if it’s an issue of not enough treating in terms of chemicals, we need to find out. I don’t want to speculate on that but our team is there to find out.”
Embling, meanwhile, said that E.coli is going to people’s houses on Scott’s Farm and Blackbeard Street. “People are getting sick because the municipality is not fixing water leaks and sewage leaks,” he said.
Contaminated water is not the only issue faced by the people of Makhanda, water wastage due to leaks is another big crisis the town is grappling with. Last week, on Wednesday, a water pipe in ward 8’s Hellier Street, burst causing a massive waste of water as gallons gushed out of the broken pipe, flowing into Musgrave and York streets, forming a wetland in the process.
According to the residents, water pipe leaks in Makhanda have persisted for decades while the water pipe leakage in ward 8 began in 2015 when the supposedly finished multi-million-rand Makhanda water treatment works project started. The project was to upgrade water treatment for the people of Makhanda after having contaminated water and water outages for years on end.
Speaking to Grocott’s Mail, Kate said the issue of water leaks is a result of old infrastructure. “Our town is almost 112 years old, so the installed infrastructure is showing signs of aging, and as a result, from time to time it cannot withstand the pressure of water and it bursts,” he said.
Kate stated that a lack of ‘tools of trade’ is another reason behind not responding timely to water leaks.
“We have unveiled a new fleet of valves for all the service delivery departments, so we have new valves that we believe will make a dent in the backlog of water leaks that need to be fixed and we have developed a programme that identifies all these leaks and follows them on daily basis.”
According to the residents of ward 8, the negligence of water management in the area has caused big damage to the road.
“The leakage is damaging the road surface, causing cars to swerve into oncoming traffic to avoid it, therefore creating additional risk to other road users and pedestrians,” resident Wayne Weber said.
Six days of water wastage and leakage left the people of ward 8 having to endure restricted water usage as the municipality switched off water.
Weber said: “The wastage also causes low to no water pressure, which leaves us without water. We have a pump feeding the house, the issue then becomes lack of rain or costs involved in filling tanks. Being lower down, we tend to get water more regularly than those residents in the higher lying areas though.”
Irma Molles, another angry ward 8 resident, accused the municipality of choosing to switch off water to residents instead of fixing infrastructure. “I have sent an email to the municipality telling them that it is ridiculous that they don’t fix the pipe because we pay rates.”
She added that the municipality workers are nowhere to be found when pipes burst and need to be repaired immediately, “but they love to come after hours and on weekends because they know it’s time-and-a-half and it’s double-time pay”, she stated.
Weber told Grocott’s Mail that efforts to reach the Makana plumbing department for repairs, yield no success. “The fire department seems to be the only functional phone out there to contact. So, they have become a go-to and they try their best to report and get the correct department dispatched. They too haven’t even been able to get through to the plumbing department since Wednesday, 1 May,” he said.
