City confirms safe drinking water in Hammanskraal

ZELDA VENTER

RESIDENTS of Hammanskraal, north of Pretoria, were given the assurance that the water in the area is safe to drink, following reports on Friday of poor water quality.

An urgent meeting was convened by the Deputy Minister of Water and Sanitation David Mahlobo, Executive Mayor of City of Tshwane, Nasiphi Moya, and Magalies Water to clarify the situation regarding a water supply interruption that led to temporary turbidity in the drinking water in Hammanskraal.

They confirmed that the water is now safe to drink. It was agreed that officials from the City and Magalies Water would meet weekly to ensure proper coordination and clear communication to the public regarding any water supply disruptions.

The stakeholders explained that Magalies Water experienced a power failure at its Klipdrift Water Treatment Works earlier this month.

This was due to a severe storm that affected the mini-substation which provides electricity to the water treatment works.

The damage to the mini-substation required that a new mini-substation be procured, installed, and commissioned. Magalies Water concluded this process a week ago. After the electricity supply was restored, the plant was immediately restarted.

As a result of the downtime of the water treatment plant caused by the damage to the electricity substation, the reservoirs and reticulation system were empty and dry for some time, they explained.

This downtime affected the areas of Mandela Village, Marokolong, Ramotse, Kekana Gardens (Steve Bikoville), Kudube Unit 9, Babelegi Industrial, and Bridgeview informal settlement.

When the system was restarted on February 8, it took time to recover, and the City of Tshwane and Magalies Water had to conduct testing and flushing of the system to get air out of the supply pipelines.

Three days later, it was found that there was some turbidity in the water, which could have been caused by settled sediments as a result of the system having been dry for a period of time, they said.

All other parameters (apart from turbidity) complied with the drinking water quality standard. Subsequent tests and further flushing of the distribution system were conducted on Thursday, and the results indicated that there was no non-compliance on any water quality parameters.

In assuring the community that the water is safe for human consumption, it is said that Magalies Water’s highly advanced accredited Scientific Services Laboratory and its staff continuously monitor water quality in the system.

The City of Tshwane said it will continue to update residents about the quality of the water and called upon communities to avoid relying on misinformation from social media.

The Hammanskraal community under the City of Tshwane had been without piped drinking water for over a decade, despite the upgrade of Temba Water Treatment Plant.

This was due to the dysfunctionality of the City’s Rooiwal Wastewater Treatment Works, which has been discharging insufficiently treated wastewater into the Apies River, which in turn flows into the Leeukraal Dam.

The Wastewater Treatment Works is situated upstream of Hammanskraal and has polluted the Leeukraal Dam, where the Temba Water Treatment Works abstracts water for treatment and distribution to residents in Hammanskraal.

As a result, the City has been providing potable water to affected communities who were initially supplied by the Temba Water Treatment Plant through mobile water tankers.

In order to enable the residents of Hammanskraal to obtain clean drinking water from their taps, the Magalies Water Board was appointed to construct a 50 megalitre package plant (water treatment works), which had been completed in November last year.

Completion of the other three phases are expected to follow in March, May, and July.

zelda.venter@inl.co.za