The quality of drinking water in South Africa has deteriorated significantly since the last blue drop report was done 11 years ago. According to the report, 151 out of 1,035 water treatment systems in the country were sampled, and 3% of the systems were found to be in a critical infrastructural condition, 12% of the systems were found to be in a poor infrastructural condition, 49% of the systems were found to be in an average infrastructural condition, 31% in good condition, and 5% in an excellent condition. Eleven municipalities failed to report water quality data to the Department of Water and Sanitation, and the department has issued a non-compliance notice to those municipalities instructing them to give advisory notes to their residents that their water might not be safe to drink if it has not been adequately tested. The Free State and the Northern Cape had the highest number of wastewater treatment systems in critical condition. The water quality tests which were carried out by municipalities showed that 41% achieved imperfect microbiological water quality compliance, which checks how well the treatment process is removing harmful bacteria from the water.
The Department of Water and Sanitation in South Africa has reported a sharp decline in the delivery of water and sanitation services across the country, with 55% of municipalities achieving inadequate chemical water quality compliance and only 17% of systems achieving excellent. Mchunu said cities needed to deliver clean and safe water, as cholera is a bacterial disease spread through contaminated water. The department has sent directives to municipalities whose water posed a health risk to inform their residents about water quality. The water crisis is causing endless problems within the country’s healthcare sector, with Helen Joseph Hospital in Johannesburg facing a low water pressure crisis. The cause of the problem is yet to be identified.
The Gauteng Department of Infrastructure, artisans and managers have been on site since Saturday, and Johannesburg Water has been supportive in ensuring a supply to the hospital's water tanks. Pheto said the low water pressure had had a severe negative impact on the delivery of water to the upper floors of the hospital. Theatres where surgical procedures have been delayed, others have been postponed, and the emergency department has been affected. The hospital had to divert some patients to other facilities, and it also affected neighbouring facilities like Charlotte Maxeke, Johannesburg Academic Hospital and Leratong Hospital. Pheto said it is also impacting negatively on the surrounding hospitals.
The Johannesburg Hospital has been facing water outages and supply constraints for at least two years, with the city's ageing infrastructure a contributing factor. Last year, the humanitarian aid organisation Gift of the Givers drilled a borehole for the hospital. Johannesburg Water said its team was on-site checking surrounding streets and found the regular water supply. However, investigations are ongoing with Johannesburg Water and the Gauteng Department of Infrastructure and Development technicians on the ground. Earlier on Monday, Johannesburg Water said cleaning of Hursthill Reservoir 2 was underway and has resulted in no water in parts of the reservoir zone, particularly affecting customers in Auckland Park, Melville and Parktown West.
Evidently, the water crisis is causing endless problems within the country’s healthcare sector, with Helen Joseph Hospital in Johannesburg facing a low water pressure crisis. Hospital acting CEO Dr Rodney Pheto said he did not know when the problem, which started on Thursday, would be resolved. Johannesburg Water had been supportive in ensuring a supply to the hospital water tanks, but the cause of the problem is yet to be identified. The hospital had to divert some patients to other facilities, and it also affected neighbouring facilities like Charlotte Maxeke, Johannesburg Academic Hospital and Leratong Hospital. There is a higher risk of infection because every time a nursing or medical clinician sees a patient, they must wash their hands in running water, but now they are using water in containers.
Moreover, the Gauteng Department of Health has denied social media reports that monkeys have been swimming inside water tankers meant to provide fresh water at the Jubilee District Hospital in Hammanskraal, north of Pretoria. Pheto said the hospital has water on the ground, first and second floors, but surgical and medical wards are still affected. Johannesburg Water said its team was on-site checking surrounding streets and found the regular water supply. Earlier on Monday, Johannesburg Water said cleaning of Hursthill Reservoir 2 was underway and has resulted in no water in parts of the reservoir zone, particularly affecting customers in Auckland Park, Melville and Parktown West. The Gauteng Department of Health has denied social media reports that monkeys have been swimming inside water tanks in Jubilee Hospital in Hammanskraal, north of Pretoria.
The department's Motalatale Modiba on Tuesday clarified that the monkeys in the video were not swimming in one of their facilities. The City of Tshwane has announced that it has paid more than R47m to 103 water tank service providers in 10 months in response to the water crisis in Hammanskraal and surrounding areas. Jubilee District Hospital and other facilities in Gauteng do not use black water tankers, and the water supplied by local authorities and water utilities to their hospitals and clinics is clean. It can be used for human consumption and other services. The same video had been shared earlier in the year with people falsely claiming that monkeys were using the water facilities at Helen Joseph Hospital in Johannesburg. Jubilee District Hospital has recently been at the forefront of dealing with the ongoing cholera outbreak, which has gripped parts of northern Tshwane.
Last month, the facility opened a 300-bedded alternative building technology structure to deal with the influx of patients. The bacterial disease has claimed 23 lives, with 48 laboratory-confirmed cases received at Jubilee District Hospital. Last week, the City of Tshwane announced that it had paid more than R47m to 103 water tank service providers in 10 months in response to the water crisis in Hammanskraal.
Doctors Without Borders (MSF) regional medical director Dr Mounia Amrani has worked in the humanitarian field for over eight years dealing with cholera outbreaks in different countries. She said it is common to have a cholera outbreak without finding the source as the bacteria does not stay long in the water, especially in a river. The City of Tshwane and the health department have not been able to find the source of cholera for two weeks, and the outbreak in Hammanskraal, north of Pretoria, has claimed the lives of more than 20 people. Amrani said it is essential to ensure that all water sources, such as reservoirs and water tankers, are cleaned, and people should practise extra cautious hygiene by washing their hands regularly and boiling any water. She also noted that it is easier to detect it in a human being, as it is highly concentrated than it is to find it in water.
The Hammanskraal families who have lost their loved ones due to the outbreak are still waiting in limbo for answers from authorities. Officials took stool samples from the Department of Health, but no replies or responses have been provided. The Mathosi family suffered a double loss when their mother, Constance, was battling cholera in the hospital, and their dog also died. Martha Mathosi said health officials came to ask them questions about what they had eaten and whether they had recently travelled, but they never returned. Martha Mathosi said health officials also wanted to take samples from her sister’s son, Tshepo, who was hospitalised with the other three.
