SUE MACLENNAN, LUKE CHARTER AND ROSA-KAROO LOEWE
Municipal officials are conducting awareness campaigns around Makhanda and a boil water notice was issued after unacceptable levels of E. coli were detected in the town’s drinking water. New water samples were taken from the town’s taps last Friday for testing, with results expected on Wednesday May 30. This comes after February tests showed high levels of E.coli bacteria in water sampled at Settler’s Hospital, the Extension 7 clinic and Joza’s Indoor Sports Centre. The Department of Water and Sanitation earlier this month issued Makana with a non-compliance notice because following the alarming results in February, they had failed to submit subsequent samples for testing, as required by law.
In a statement this week, Makana Municipality said it had run short of the chlorine gas it uses to purify water and instead used chlorine powder at its treatment works.
Makana last week issued a notice for residents to boil or add bleach to tap water. This week, they are visiting schools as part of a public awareness water safety campaign.
Along with crippling water shortages, there are concerns these safety concerns could put off visitors to the National Arts Festival – just weeks away. Residents and businesses receive water only every third day. Some residents in high-lying areas report not receiving water via the gravity fed system, even on “on” days.
However, organisers assured the Dispatch that there is a plan in place.
Monica Newton, National Arts Festival CEO, said: “The National Arts Festival has a contingency water plan for all our festival venues and has worked in tandem with our partners to assist in mitigating water supply complications.
“Many of Makhanda’s hospitality establishments have an additional, private water supply.
“Though the Festival is equipped to add resources and solutions for the short-term period, this is unsustainable year round.
“The water issues experienced in Makhanda continue to affect our poorest and most vulnerable citizens. We are hopeful that ongoing efforts by a range of stakeholders to resolve this issue will bear fruit.”
Graham Hotel director Eugene Repinz said the hotel would rely on its own water reserves after the announcement.
He said the hotel had recently installed boreholes.
Repinz said: “The first thing we did was to switch off the municipal water supply. With the high E.coli levels, we can’t take the chance. You can’t just boil that water.”
In February, a water sample taken from the Extension 7 clinic showed the E.coli bacterial count at 199 per 100ml. Water quality is measured against standards set in the SA National Standards which requires that there should be no E.coli at all in drinking water.
In last week’s notice, the municipality said, “Consumers are advised to take precautionary measures, using the following options: boil water before drinking, or put one teaspoon of bleach in 25 litres of water and leave to stand for 30 minutes before consumption.”
“Makana municipality is dealing with the matter and will do regular water tests, and take appropriate action, to ensure that microbiological water quality results meet the drinking water quality standards as prescribed.”
Ward 8 councillor Cary Clark said, “I am really not happy that the municipality has taken this long to issue a boil notice because I suspect they have known about the issue for far longer than they let on. I would also like to have the water tested in the trucks which deliver water to people to see if E.coli is present.”
The Dispatch reported two weeks ago how a municipal truck carrying the city’s last working pump from the Howieson’s Poort Dam slid into a ditch and was left there for days, further prolonging hopes of the water situation being resolved. The Howieson’s Poort pump station normally supplies water to the west side of Makhanda. Currently the entire town relies on water from James Kleynhans Water Treatment Works.
Schools and institutions across Makana invested in rainwater tanks and boreholes several years ago, when the first prolonged water outages began.
Many of the town’s no-fee schools use rainwater tanks donated by Gift of the Givers, Rotary and other NGOs. The two largest public boarding schools, Graeme College and Victoria Girls’ High School, have well-established water supply and safety provisions.
“We are fortunate to have a number of water tanks with filters that collect rainwater that we use for drinking and cooking. We have warned staff and learners not to drink water from the taps,” said Graeme College principal Kevin Watson.
Victoria Girls’ High School principal Warren Schmidt said: “No-one drinks municipal water at school or in the hostel, even if there is water on a given day, as we are acutely aware of the dangers. These recent tests and reports just confirm our beliefs over the last few years.
“We have a large number of tanks used as reservoirs, with designated rainwater tanks for drinking and cooking. This water is also filtered.
“We have a testing regime for all water tanks at the school, which has become more solid with the recent Rubic [Rhodes University Biotechnology Innovation Centre] testing initiative and we are working with its director, Professor Janice Limson, to firm up these protocols.
“Overall, we are relatively independent of the municipal supply, with borehole water feeding into non-drinking tanks to maintain water levels within the campus. The Rubic initiative has been offered to other schools via the Makhanda Circle of Unity, but I am not sure how many have taken it up.”
Private school Kingswood College head Leon Grové said: “Kingswood College uses a combination of borehole and harvested rainwater to supplement municipal water. All water is put through the school’s filtration system and regularly tested to ensure the safety of all staff and pupils.”
St Andrew’s College principal Tom Hamilton said St Andrew’s College was very aware of the issues of water safety and water security and the recent incidence of e.coli in public water systems was of concern to them.
“We installed Reverse Osmosis (RO) Systems in various other locations around the campus some years ago. These RO systems are effective against E.coli. Filters are changed every 3 months as is standard or more often if the water is particularly dirty and the filters are getting clogged. This process is closely monitored by our operations team,” Hamilton said.
In addition, the school’s hostels had small RO systems in house kitchenettes as a convenience for boys. These systems were maintained on the same basis as the main systems.
“Most of our boys have 5-litre or 10-litre containers with taps in their rooms to store clean water.”
All water in the kitchen/ dining hall passes through the filtration system.
“General use water is currently sourced from municipal, borehole and rainwater. Currently this is not filtered, nor is it treated. However, we have adopted a testing and treatment protocol in response to the news of E.coli being detected the water supply at various sites in the city,” Hamilton said. “So technically, there is a risk if the municipal supply is contaminated. When assessing the risk we also consider that the municipal water is diluted in our tanks with borehole water and rain water (assuming the borehole water is uncontaminated) and that the Makana water did not fail the testing at source but at specific end user points.”
Hamilton said they were rking with the Rhodes University Biotechnology Innovation Centre (RUBIC) on a testing protocol.
“Should we get any adverse results, a SANAS approved laboratory in Cape Town has been lined up that will send us bottles to self-sample and courier to them for testing.”
In their statement issued on Monday, Makana Municipality said they were currently conducting awareness campaigns around Makhanda. Explaining the reason for the presence of E.coli , they said, “The Municipality ran short of Chlorine gas and used Chlorine powder (HTH), as an alternative. This is usually effective when the water supply is normal. With the 2 days off and 1 day on, HTH evaporates, between the source and the tap.
IN addition to the advice to boil or bleach water before drinking, measures taken to mitigate the situation were as follows:
- Chlorine gas and other additional chemicals arrived on 25 May 2023.
- Chlorine tablets were placed into all reservoirs on 25 May 2023, before opening for supply on 26/05.
- Sampling was done by an accredited laboratory, on 26/05. Results expected on 30/05.
- Amatola Water and Rhodes University will be doing a resample on 30/05.
- A Health and Hygiene Awareness campaign is currently underway by Department of Water and Sanitation and Makana Municipality.
- Once results confirm E.coli as undetected, a [new] Water Alert will be issued.
The Eastern Cape Department of Health says no cases of cholera have been detected in the province. However, the death toll from the waterborne disease in Hammanskraal, near Tshwane, continues to climb.
Meanwhile, the World Health Organisation said an international cholera vaccine shortfall would be resolved only by 2025.
Health department spokesperson Yonela Dekeda told the Dispatch: “The Eastern Cape does not have cholera and measles outbreaks. We’ve been monitoring that through our public health surveillance system.”
- Earlier versions of this article appeared in the Daily Dispatch Weekend Edition. A June 6 update from St Andrew’s College is included in this version of Talk of the Town’s June 1 article.
