Pretoria - The City of Tshwane seems to be unconcerned about the serious health risk residents are exposed to daily when they drink the dirty, brownish water in Refilwe, east of Pretoria.
So say frustrated residents who complain that the water in the township located just outside Bronkhorstpruit is contaminated - and sometimes even contains worms.
They say the problem started just over three weeks ago when taps started pouring out dirty water and families started becoming ill.
Although the City has been providing water via water tankers, Refilwe residents still think nobody really cares about them. They they’ve seen politicians going to Hammanskraal, where water problems have been rife, but they haven’t shown the same enthusiasm in the case of Refilwe.
Even the water brought in by water tankers is sometimes not fit for consumption and most residents have resorted to buying water from suppliers in the area.
Businesses that sell water report a significant growth in sales, as residents continue to lose confidence in the tank water. It has become the norm for every household to refill water bottles at shops daily. However, those who cannot afford this sometimes become so desperate that they end up drinking the tap water.
Pretoria News yesterday spoke to the Pheli family, who they found doing their laundry on their lawn. Masuku Pheli said she did not wash white clothes with the water from the taps because it stained them. The Pretoria News team can confirm that a glass of the water they were given smelled like unpurified water collected from a dam or a river.
“This is the smell and look of the water when we’ve had taps running for a while in the morning. If you come early in the morning, it is completely brown. We’ve all fallen sick from this water. Unfortunately a lot of people here do not work, so sometimes it’s hard to just have that R5 to refill your 5-litre bottle.
“The worst part is that it’s hot and our children want to drink water very often. Now imagine how many 5-litre bottles you need a day. Sometimes it gets so bad that you end up cooking with this water, but when it boils it forms a white foam at the top,” she said.
Mmapule Nwalane and Nkele Chiloane say they want local government to help them solve this problem before someone dies.
Said Nwalane: “In my home we’ve all been sick from this water, until we decided to start buying from water shops.
“After we started buying water, we noticed only my 1-year-old grandchild was constantly having a runny tummy, and then we found out that the crèche was using the tap water to cook.”
Nelson Ndlela, of Extension four, saw the water challenges in the community as a business opportunity and started purifying the tap water and selling it. Now residents refill their water bottles at one of his four branches on a daily basis.
MMC for Utility Services Abel Tau said the City was aware of residents’ concerns and had taken samples of the water for testing.
“What is happening is that the mine in the area released more manganese (into the water) than it is supposed to. We are getting sufficient services to assist us,” he said.