Bronkhorstspruit residents warned not to use water from taps

Residents in Bronkhorstspruit have been warned not to drink, bath or use the water from that tap.

This as 408 cases of gastrointestinal illness have been reported in Tshwane’s Region 7 since the beginning of October, with children under the age of four making up most of those affected.

Speaking at a joint briefing in Pretoria, Water and Sanitation Minister Pemmy Majodina says preliminary water-quality tests conducted on the 14th of October detected extremely high levels of E. coli in the water from the treatment works supplying the affected area.

They are investigating a possible link to contaminated water.

No deaths have been reported so far.

Majodina says further tests and investigations are underway to establish whether harmful contaminants are present, and no formal outbreak has been declared.

“Patients have been treated at hospital, as well as local clinics.

Those patients are mainly from Zithobeni, Bronkohrnspruiyt, Darkcity, Zithabeni, Rethabiseng and Sikhulumi in Tshwane region 7.

The affected areas are largely supplied with water by City of Tshwane Bronkohnspruit Water Treatment Works,” she says.

Video: Ministers, GP Premier and Mayor of Tshwane brief media on gastrointestinal illness upsurge Majodina says the City of Tshwane failed issue an alert that water from the Bronkhorstspruit Water Treatment Plant had not been chlorinated, thus making it unsafe for human consumption.