Gingindlovu water woes continue
The municipality has confirmed that water tankers have been brought in to supply water to the community as the municipality was forced to suspend operations at the Gingindlovu water purification plant following another contamination incident within a week
GINGINDLOVU’S water supply problems continue as the King Cetshwayo District Municipality (KSDM) still deals with contamination from a local factory.
The municipality has confirmed that water tankers have been brought in to supply water to the community as the municipality was forced to suspend operations at the Gingindlovu water purification plant following another contamination incident within a week.
The discharge led to the deterioration of the raw water quality in the Amatigulu River, the main raw water source for Gingindlovu and surrounding rural areas.
The contamination took place upstream of the abstraction point.
The supply was restored last Wednesday (2 October), but the river was once again found to be polluted on Thursday.
More serious
This discharge was found to be more serious than the previous occurrence, and the municipality deemed the water unfit to purify for human consumption.
Operations were stopped and water tankers were deployed. While the water is deemed unfit for human consumption and cannot be purified, it is not known what effect the pollutant is having on the fish, wildlife and people living downstream who abstract their water directly from the river.
The KSDM has undertaken to keep the community updated on progress until such time that the water source is safe for abstraction.
Relocate abstraction point
The municipality has had meetings with the factory in question and is working on a plan to change the water abstraction point to further upstream, where any future discharge will not affect the supply to the water plant.
This is a medium-term solution which will involve the installation of a 1.4km pipeline from the current abstraction point to the upstream source. When this will happen depends on budget availability.
Emergencies can be reported to the King Cetshwayo toll-free water hotline on 0800 203 602.
HAVE YOUR SAY
Like our Facebook page and follow us on Twitter.
For news straight to your phone invite us:
WhatsApp – 072 069 4169
Instagram – zululand_observer
