Durban — The eThekwini Municipality has reiterated that the city’s water in reservoirs is safe for consumption and security to safeguard the infrastructure has been heightened.
This was after a burglary at the Currie Road reservoir.
On Monday, the municipality’s bulk water superintendent, Sbu Ndlovu, said there had been a burglary at the Currie Road reservoir in which the padlock was stolen and the wet chamber, where water enters the inlet to the reservoir, was tampered with. The frame and lead were dislocated on one side.
“What we've done is we've replaced that padlock with a moonlight lock, which is stronger and is not prone to vandalism. And what we've done as well, we’ve put in security guards that are manning the reservoir 24 hours a day. This site is being monitored by them to prevent a recurrence of the incident,” Ndlovu said.
He said the municipality had its own Scientific Services Department that regularly took water samples.
“I organised for them to come and take samples. They were taken to the lab, tests were conducted and the water was declared safe for human consumption,” Ndlovu said.
“My request to the members of the public out there is to safeguard these facilities. They are there for them. They provide a service to them. Any suspicious incident must be reported to our call centre, and we will respond swiftly to all threats that may be imposed on our infrastructure.”
Last week, the Daily News reported that a video had emerged on social media in which a disgruntled resident spoke about a break-in at the Currie Road reservoir on the Berea. This raised concern about whether the reservoir had been contaminated.
Ward 31 councillor Remona Mckenzie said vagrants had gained access to the reservoir premises.
“The council does need to prioritise the protection of our drinking water. Some of the serious challenges the department is facing are continuous vandalism within reservoir sites, in which people steal metal for scrap, and padlocks are stolen.”
EThekwini Water and Sanitation head Ednick Msweli said the site had now been secured, and the city continued to monitor water quality in that reservoir to ensure it met acceptable standards.
Daily News