Chief Albert Luthuli Municipality under the stewardship of Executive Mayor Councillor BP Shiba is a responsible institution that accepts the reality that no democracy will flourish unless the masses of our people have access to basic services like clean water. As a municipality we understand correctly that we must never hide any difficulties from our masses, neither must we tell them any lies.
It is in this spirit that we release this statement to inform our community and society at large of the developments on the unfortunate water crisis in Carolina and surrounding areas and give our reaction to the judgment by Judge Moses Mavundla.
It is important that we place on record that the executive mayor or any official of the municipality has never at any point suggested that water is not suitable for human consumption after the minister declared water to be fit for human consumption.
In January 2012 our raw water from Boesmanspruit Dam was contaminated with acid mine water seepage and this resulted in a dramatic change in the supply of portable water that is purified in that plant to be provided to communities in Carolina and surrounding farm areas. The sudden and unexpected change in the quality of water was noticed by municipal personnel and the community at large.
Even though this problem was not of the municipality or any of its personnel’s making we have through the office of the Executive Mayor established a task team comprising of various stakeholders which include Inkomati Catchment Agency , Department of Water Affairs, Technical personnel from municipality , surrounding mines , Community Development Workers , and other agencies.
The terms of reference of the task team were mainly to identify the problem and provide us with both short term and long term solutions to the problem.
After laboratory tests were done by agencies that are part of the task team, it was discovered that water is contaminated with heavy metals such as Iron, Aluminum and Manganese which can be traced to the mining activity in the surrounding areas.
This meant that the portable water from that plant was no longer at acceptable levels for human consumption but could be used for sanitation, bathing and other sundry duties. The pre directives were issued by the Minister of Water Affairs Ms Edna Molewa to all the identified mines for them to comply.
The task team has made significant progress including providing temporary solutions to the problem. The immediate response was to make portable water available for the purpose of drinking and cooking to the various communities by supplying JOJO tanks which are to be filled up by contracted water tankers. The task team has also consistently reminded the community not to drink or cook with the portable water coming out of taps.
As part of the long term solutions to improving the quality of water provided to the citizens of Carolina and surrounding areas the task team proposed that we urgently address the following: upgrading of the treatment works, installation of mini lab for testing, rehabilitation and containment of source (wetlands), the provision of Chemical Analyst and Process Controllers and capacity building of the personnel in the water treatment plant.
We are pleased to inform you that there has been massive improvement of water quality processing in the water treatment plant and the overall quality of water has significantly improved. There has been ongoing lab testing over the past three weeks in Water Lab and Mpumamanzi Lab which are both accredited labs.
The latest tests indicate drastic improvement as the identified metals are now on the acceptable standards as regulated by SANS 241:2011. It is because of these tests that I intimately drank tap during an interview with a SABC journalist yesterday.
Moreover there has been release of water from Usuthu River at Camden to Nooigedacht Dam which water passes through Boesmanspruit Dam which started on the 28 June 2012; this assists in diluting and flushing the source of the contamination. This is the annual programme which is done by water affairs to assist in providing water to Eskom's Power Stations.
The above mentioned process has provided relief to the Boesmanspruit Dam as heavy metals have been reduced by half. We would however like to assure inhabitants that are living along the stream to Nooigedachtdam for any precautionary measures.
The Department Of Water Affairs has provided a mobile filtration plant which has already been assembled and almost ready for operation. This mobile filtration plant will play a pivotal role in finalising the process of providing clean and qualitative water to our community.
From the onset let us mention that the Executive Mayor and the entire municipality are law abiding citizens which respect the rule of law. Hence we welcome the judgment from Judge Moses Mavundla which ordered Gert Sibande District Municipality to provide portable drinkable water to the affected community within 72 hours and to meet the applicants to the court to discuss a sustainable solution to the water crisis. We will work together with them in obtaining a sustainable solution and as ordered by the court we will share the costs together with other respondents.
Enquiries:
Wonder Shabangu
Cell: 078 405 6497
