Poisoned Water in South Africa

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Poisoned Water in South Africa

May 21st, 2016

Awake Goy

Flesh-eating bacteria, E.coli, cholera, shigella, and salmonella bacteria are present in South African water supplies-because three-quarters of water pumped back into rivers by municipal treatment plants is not properly treated.

The collapse in water sanitation standards—due to the inefficiency of the Third World government—is detailed in a new report from the 2016 SA Health Review (SAHR).

Alexandra

According to the report, some 986 municipal water treatment facilities discharge 2,100-million kiloliters of treated water into river systems every year.

But, the report says, three-quarters of this water has not been properly treated—due to local authority inefficiency, or an inability to maintain treatment facilities.

The SAHR report admitted that the infrastructure was “challenged” but did not say why the standards are dropping—because it is politically incorrect to do so.

The problems are however obviously linked to the affirmative action program which has all but driven whites out of any management positions within the government.

The bacteria which have been detected in water supplies mostly originate with sewage—including the flesh-eating variety—and this means that the drinking water being distributed to households is seriously polluted with infectious pathogens.

The SA Health Review report adds that the worst service breakdowns are in the rural provinces.

In 2009/10, for example, the report says, 78 percent of households in the Mpumalanga Province (the “old” eastern Transvaal) and 69.5 percent of households in the Limpopo Province (the “old” northern Transvaal) reported interrupted water supply over the previous 12 months.

Interruptions were caused mainly by burst pipes, water leaks, poor general maintenance, and insufficient water, and were not always speedily resolved; for example, in 2010, 68 percent of interruptions in Mpumalanga lasted for more than 15 days.

In addition, acid mine drainage is contaminating water supplies as acidic water from decommissioned mines drips into the river network.

“Less than two-thirds of households rated their water services as ‘good’ in 2013,” the report said, adding that residents said that the water was not clean, tasted bad, and had “unpleasant odors.”

A report in the South African news service, the Daily Maverick, said that there were several high profile serious incidents which had been caused by the water pollution.

For example, the Daily Maverick said, the well-known author and London Sunday Times correspondent R.W. Johnson lost his leg in 2009 to flesh-eating bacteria which entered a cut on his foot after he took a swim in a KwaZulu-Natal lake.

Another case was Doctor Peter Breedt, who contracted flesh-eating bacteria after surfing off the coast of Durban’s famous beaches in 2012.

In addition, the Daily Maverick reported, several of South Africa’s major rivers are infected.

“The Umgeni, Vaal, Crocodile, and Olifants rivers are reputed to be the country’s most polluted rivers. This stinky, contaminated water is used to irrigate some of the crops that we eat and it endangers the health of anyone swimming or playing in rivers, river mouths, and lagoons,” the report said.

The Daily Maverick concluded:

Between April 2011 and January 2012, University of KwaZulu-Natal researchers Professor Johnson Lin, Atheesha Ganesh, and Moganavelli Singh regularly tested the water in the Umgeni River, which enters the sea in Durban.

They found a very high concentration of viruses, including adenoviruses, rotaviruses, enteroviruses, herpes, and hepatitis B in the water in every sample. These pose a significant threat to people’s health, yet usually escape undetected.

This means that the poor management of waste water and inadequate maintenance by local government pose serious threats to our very survival.