Nearly 5,000 people in the Little Karoo town of De Rust are without running water after the water supply was contaminated.

by Xolani Koyana, originally posted on January 11, 2017

CAPE TOWN – Nearly 5,000 people in the Little Karoo town of De Rust are without running water after the water supply was contaminated.

The Oudtshoorn Municipality has discontinued supply to De Rust after the remains of a raging fires last week tainted the water stream.

In the meantime, the municipality has been urging residents to collect bottled water at its offices and dispatched mobile water tanks.

Oudtshoorn Municipality spokesperson Ntobeko Mangqwengqwe says the chlorination system is also disabled due to large amounts of solids in the dam.

“As for now it’s unclear as to when the problem will be resolved because we’re basically dependent on the catchment area being cleared. We’re monitoring the situation on a daily basis.”