Cape Town - The City of Cape Town has rejected “misinformation” spreading on social media its tap water is highly contaminated with a “soup of bacteria and viruses” and not safe for public consumption.
It said Cape Town’s tap water complied with SANS241 standards and was safe for consumption.
The message spreading across WhatsApp groups in Cape Town read: “Friends and family, our tap water is highly contaminated with a soup of bacteria and viruses including multi drug resistant E coli ... Reason being that load shedding is messing with the decontamination and chlorinating process.
“There is an epidemic of gastro in the Western Cape. The MEC for Health is aware but while trying to sort the problem out, the public is not being informed. Know that the presence of these organisms has been confirmed by our private infectious disease doctors. So don’t drink tap water, it is bottled or boiled water only. Spray your hands.”
Acting water and sanitation Mayco member Siseko Mbandezi said the City was aware of misinformation spreading on WhatsApp and wanted to let the public know the City took its water quality seriously and complied with strict checks from the Department of Water and Sanitation.
“We’re proud to say that we regularly test over 5 700 water samples each year, taken from various points around Cape Town. We measure our compliance with the SA National Standards (SANS) and consistently exceed our targets,” said Mbandezi.
Mbandezi added the City was looking into the source of the recurring misinformation and urged the public not to spread fake news about the quality of Cape Town’s drinking water supply.
Mbandezi also appealed to residents not to share this message and advised that they first validate the information by visiting the City’s website which maintains updated information related to the City’s water quality.
“False information causes panic which our citizens can ill-afford and strains/burdens the City’s resources, which could be better applied at the time,” Mbandezi said.
Jo Barnes, a senior lecturer on health systems and public health at Stellenbosch University, said: “The standard of drinking water in Cape Town on the whole is good to excellent. There are a few places at the ends of the various distribution lines or where there is a lot of infrastructure damage that the quality varies from time to time, but to claim that the drinking water is ‘highly contaminated with a soup of bacteria and viruses including multi-drug resistant E coli’ is simply a malicious exaggeration to attract attention and sow fear.”
Barnes said it looked as if there was an underlying power game or political motive in this specific misinformation campaign.
If residents have any concerns related to the quality of the water, Mbandezi urged them to report it to arrange for a sample to be taken.