Letsitele water is safe for consumption

Last month a proportional representative municipal councillor (PR) of the Democratic Alliance paid a visit to the clinic in Letsitele to follow up on allegations that the facility’s water supply was severely contaminated and unfit for human consumption.

The DA’s PR Councillor for Ward 23, Chrisma Bredenkamp, was accompanied by the party’s shadow deputy minister of Health, Lindy Wilson, and the DA’s Political Leader for the Mopani District, Solly Malatsi.

Following their oversight visit on the 28th of April, which was reportedly preceded by three previous visits by Bredenkamp, it was discovered that the water supply at the clinic was indeed infected with dangerously high levels of e-coli which rendered it unfit for human consumption.

Bredenkamp claimed that the stench of the water during her first visit to the clinic bothered her, which is why she returned a second, and then a third time and requested the water be tested by an “independent laboratory”.

Whilst the Greater Tzaneen Municipality (GTM) does have a supply point at the clinic, with fresh water through their own pipeline, the faucets are locked at the site and the clinic therefore uses a borehole and JoJo tanks for their water. The reason for this is because, according to Bredenkamp, the Limpopo Department of Health and the GTM were at loggerheads over the supply of water to the clinic.

It is alleged that the Department of Health refused to pay the GTM’s connection and monthly fee for the use of the municipal pipeline.

Bredenkamp went on to claim that the entire water supply network in Letsitele was not safe for human consumption after a resident near the clinic provided her with photos of a filter from his water filtration system at his home.

In these photographs, the resident showed that a mustard-coloured sludge formed on the outside of the filter. Based on this observation, it was believed that the water throughout the entire town was not fit for human consumption.

The problem with the statement is that the water tested at the clinic was from a borehole system, which was installed by the Mopani District Municipality (MDM) and not the Greater Tzaneen Municipality. This means that the water supply to Letsitele town is not the same water source as that which supplies the clinic.

This further means that the statement regarding the potable water in Letsitele being unfit for human consumption, is quite simply not true, and has directly resulted in undue panic.

Bulletin spoke to a source at the department of water and sanitation in Tzaneen who dismissed the claims made by both the members of DA and the resident in Letsitele.

“The water supply to Letsistele town is according to standard. The resident who used the water filter at his home to claim otherwise, is not well versed in filtration systems. The water from the dam is filtered by the DWS through a standard system incorporating chlorine and other chemicals which cause flocculation and then it goes through a slow sand filtration system.

This system filters up to 0.2-micron. The water purification systems installed in homes work on reverse osmosis and has a much smaller filter, up to 0.002 micron which means you could literally take water from a bottle and push it through a reverse osmosis system, and you’d find some unsightly build up in your filter over time.”

The GTM also dismissed the claims made by Bredenkamp and in response said that the municipality complied with South African National Standard 241 (SANS 241) which is the minimum requirements for potable water to be considered safe for human consumption.

Regarding the Letsistele clinic case, the municipality affirmed that the clinic utilized water from a borehole and not a municipal source.

They also said that they conducted laboratory tests on the water from the clinic. The results of these tests were given to the Environmental Inspectors and the clinic management. “We have also advised the clinic management to apply for a municipal connection,” the GTM said.

The GTM conducts weekly laboratory tests on its water treatment plants and monthly laboratory tests on its water distribution network. Results from these show that the GTM fully complies with SANS 241.

This week, the GTM released the results of the independent microbiology and chemistry tests conducted by Muratho Laboratory Services and Consulting which showed that the municipal water tested in Letsitele was in fact suitable and safe for human consumption.

At the time of going to print the name of the independent laboratory used by Bredenkamp to test the water at the clinic had not been made known, nor have the results of these tests been published.