Some residents of Grahamstown and other parts of the Makana Municipality have been without access to clean water for months.
This sparked outrage among residents and civil society organisations, which accuse the municipality of inefficiency and mismanagement.
The problem was first raised publicly by the social development and infrastructure development and technical services portfolio committees, which, on May 16 and 17, highlighted that high levels of E.coli – a bacterium indicating contamination by faeces or sewage that can cause a number of illnesses – were found in the water supply.
According to Flow‚ a Rhodes University student research initiative‚ there are two water treatment works in Makana – the James Kleynhans Water Treatment Plant‚ which supplies the poorer, eastern side of Grahamstown with water‚ and the Waainek Water Treatment Works‚ which provides water to the wealthier university-oriented side.
“Infrastructure and maintenance are a problem.” In 2015‚ the Makana Municipality hired Amatola Water to manage Makana’s unreliable water supply.
According to the Grahamstown Residents’ Association and officials‚ this left Makana without the skills or resources needed for water management operations.
So when chemicals needed for treatment were running out‚ which is estimated to have been about February this year‚ instead of alerting the minister for water affairs or the public as is standard procedure‚ officials revealed at the portfolio committee meetings that R41 000 worth of hydrochloride swimming pool tablets had been bought in an attempt to treat the water.
Months later‚ after independent tests were done in Grahamstown and the issues were raised at the portfolio committees meeting‚ the municipality was forced to address the issue of contamination.
Dali Mlenzana‚ the director of engineering and infrastructural services at the Makana Municipality‚ assured residents that the necessary chemicals had been delivered two weeks ago and were already in use.
However‚ he advised residents to continue boiling tap water for at least the next two weeks.