Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality residents say they are “disgusted and fed up with this municipality’s mismanagement of the water system”, as they continue to suffer through a drought.
They have now called on the municipality to be transparent, saying a cancer-causing by-product was found during tests conducted in the water earlier this year.
“For many months, we have been drinking water that contains high levels of bromodichloromethane, a carcinogenic chemical,” said the Water Crisis Committee.
“Bromodichloromethane is used to treat water when there are high levels of bacteria and other micro-organisms.
“This leaves us wondering; is the municipal water so highly polluted with faeces and other pathogens that they are flooding our drinking water with chemicals to fix the problem?
“Inside the municipality, there was a choice between cholera or cancer.
“They decided to opt for long-term thinking, which keeps us ‘healthy’ for now, but will leave us with cancer in the long-term.
“If we are speaking candidly, it already felt like we had contracted cancer between the abrupt shut-offs, astronomical water bills, putrid-smelling leaks and the contaminated water from our taps.
“The residents of Nelson Mandela Bay Metro are cursed by this municipality.
“Why is it the case that we must hear about these human rights violations after the fact?
“Rarely does the municipality show an honest face to the people it is supposed to serve. The media is our only reliable source of information when atrocities take place,” the committee said.
A number of enquiries to the municipality were unanswered this week.
Spokesperson for the national Department of Water and Sanitation (DWS), Wisane Mavasa, advised residents not to consume the water over a long period of time, as he confirmed the heightened levels of bromodichloromethane in the municipality’s water.
Mavasa said that the department had requested a plan of action from the municipality.
“Also the raw waters are not ‘highly polluted with faeces and other pathogens’ as is alleged, just normal raw water under drought conditions.
“And water that must be pumped over long distances and carefully balanced to ensure it reaches all consumers.
“Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality as part of their ‘water safety plan’ have identified trihalomethanes as a risk and do routine monitoring for this risk.
“DWS monitors the water monitoring captured on IRIS and has noted the incidence of bromodichloromethane in NMBM systems and has sent a series of notices to NMBM in this regard,” said Mavasa.
“DWS has written a series of notices to NMBM informing it of the failures and requesting a plan of action.
“NMBM has piloted changed disinfection options; and has found disinfection by chlorine dioxide to be effective without the formation of excessive THMs.
“NMBM is installing this disinfection technique in the Loerie (water treatment) for full scale testing before rolling out to the other (sites),” said Mavasa.
Cape Times