Is tapwater still safe?

[overandout]

More and more signals are creeping up, indicating that it is not safe to drink tapwater anymore.

Cholera has apparently contaminated the rivers in the northern regions, and further inland raw sewage gets pumped into the rivers.

http://www.news24.com/News24/South_Africa/News/0,,2-7-1442_2436262,00.html

http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=39831

My question is then: Is it still safe to drink tapwater in Gauteng?

The alternative for most people will be to buy bottled water, but as proved many times before these can even be worse for your health:

http://mybroadband.co.za/vb/showthread.php?t=134395&highlight=bottled+water

The idea of drinking water that has been standing in plastic containers for a while, is also not a good one. I have a relative who is a chemical engineer at SASOL Polymers (plastics) and he said it is common knowledge that the plastic particles land in the water over time, which is very bad for your health.

The best way to store water is either in glass or stainless-steel containers.

The only way to ensure that you truly get clean tapwater, is to get a water-filter installed. You just have to do a little bit of homework, before just rushing out and deciding to buy the first one that you find, as they are not all equally effective.

 

[saffakanera]

No the tapwater we drink has 48 percent Cluohedriside and about 88 units of Calmin Doronin, which causes liver failure. I would suggest treating water sources with Polyeximal, a purification unit available from Sanitation suppliers.

 

[gifs]

No the tapwater we drink has 48 percent Cluohedriside and about 88 units of Calmin Doronin, which causes liver failure. I would suggest treating water sources with Polyeximal, a purification unit available from Sanitation suppliers.

What are those? No google hits for those three terms so I would have to assume you made it up?

There is nothing wrong with Gauteng's water. Randwater and Joburg Water are rated very highly internationally when it comes to water quality.

 

[Alan]

IMO the water hasn't been safe for a few years now actually

 

[<moLe>]

so we all are going to die? this sounds like the start of another verimark advert where they try and sell u an uber-duper-water-filter-gizmo

 

[Alan]

More likely you'll just get the ****s

 

[<moLe>]

see, this is why i live of red bull....just such and healthier alternative

 

[Alan]

see, this is why i live of red bull....just such and healthier alternative

 

[Cyberdude]

Its best if you don't know what is in the water. If you do you probably won't drink it.

 

[aadil-old]

Tap water over bottled water any day.

I've got no worries for now. If I sprout a second head or third ear I'll let you guys know.

 

[BCO]

In terms of coliforms, I did a test on my office water a couple of months back. Not a single contaminant.

 

[stoke]

Caveman drink from puddle of mud. Caveman live till 20-90 years old. Caveman mauled/killed lots while hunting.

 

[LazyLion]

The tap water is just fine. Rand water supplies from the Vaal, so no problems in Joburg or Pretoria. If you want to be safe, just boil it before you put it in the fridge.

 

[KillerX]

Good luck to the people who think South Africa still has high quality water. Have you guys looked at the rest of the goverment provided services lately? Everything is in decay. Go read the report that senior guy did on the water situation in our country... which he was then fired for. I dont recall his name now.

We used to have a total (directly or indirectly) of 8000 scientists and engineers working on our water supplies. That was 15 years ago. Today there are only 400 left. I read through that report and it is quite shocking... Mark my words, a water crisis will strike within the next year or two, that will be on the same catastrophic level as the electricity crisis was.

This is what happens when you dont maintain anything.

Ill stick to bottled water thanks. Soon the only thing our water will be good for is flushing toilets.

 

[<moLe>]

Good luck to the people who think South Africa still has high quality water. Have you guys looked at the rest of the goverment provided services lately? Everything is in decay. Go read the report that senior guy did on the water situation in our country... which he was then fired for. I dont recall his name now.

We used to have a total (directly or indirectly) of 8000 scientists and engineers working on our water supplies. That was 15 years ago. Today there are only 400 left. I read through that report and it is quite shocking... Mark my words, a water crisis will strike within the next year or two, that will be on the same catastrophic level as the electricity crisis was.

This is what happens when you dont maintain anything.

Ill stick to bottled water thanks. Soon the only thing our water will be good for is flushing toilets.

I go back to my argument drink red bull..its healthier.....with value added caffeine

 

[Hosehead]

Soon the only thing our water will be good for is flushing toilets.

It's not much good for that either especially with all these so called water saving toilets. They just don't flush like the good ol days.

 

[LazyLion]

Use your rain water to flush your toilets!

 

[KillerX]

This is what I was talking about:

http://www.politicsweb.co.za/politicsweb/view/politicsweb/en//page71619?oid=111573&sn=Detail

So they ordered him to withdraw the slide presentation. And then suspended their leading researcher on water and political science because he "elected to engage with the media on the matter of the withdrawal of his presentation

By doing so the CSIR is guilty of an appalling act of censorship reminiscent of the Nationalist Party's apartheid era.

Why appalling? Because the CSIR is a public institution substantially financed by South African taxpayers who are entitled to know the results of its scientists' research. Particularly when they sound warning bells, as Turton does, over the increasing contamination of their drinking water.

 

[<moLe>]

This is what I was talking about:

http://www.politicsweb.co.za/politicsweb/view/politicsweb/en//page71619?oid=111573&sn=Detail

Death is going to have his hands full in a couple of years...

 

[bigicy]

I've been drinking Johannesburg Water for all my life.