Is tapwater still safe?

[slayerza]

I only drink filtered water, I wouldn't dare drink the water in Potchefstroom straight out of the tap

 

[<moLe>]

last time i drank water was 3 years ago...been living of redbull and heineken mostly

 

[semiautomatix]

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

Screw that!

/me switches back to beer

 

[krycor]

cape town water is the best

 

[Morgoth]

well , I think we have all adapted to the infected water by now ^^

 

[CeRRaNo]

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

rofl . I dunno about you guys but in Natal the water has been coming out thick , white and fizzy. Extra chloride or something. The department says its due to water works etc etc. It tastes disgustingly metallic. I've got to bottled water now in the hope that it will get back to normal, but its been about 3 months.

What filter would anyone recommend? Looking at that Brita system, it seems convenient and easy to replace.

 

[KillerX]

This is why i LAUGH at ANC supporters... cause the first thing they always say is... "but they have connected X million people to water and to electricity"

They tend to forget that we didnt have power for the entire country, and that all the signs are there that the water system will collapse soon if left without maintenance.

It helps buggerall if everyone has a wall socket with no power, and a tap with dirty infected water.

 

[Gothan]

I only drink filtered water, I wouldn't dare drink the water in Potchefstroom straight out of the tap

Ey!!! Watch it, there was nothing wrong with the water in Potch when I lived there, must be you freakin students contaminating everything

 

[<moLe>]

This is why i LAUGH at ANC supporters... cause the first thing they always say is... "but they have connected X million people to water and to electricity"

They tend to forget that we didnt have power for the entire country, and that all the signs are there that the water system will collapse soon if left without maintenance.

It helps buggerall if everyone has a wall socket with no power, and a tap with dirty infected water.

+1

 

[overandout]

Just been to Makro, and it was interesting to see how many people were buying bulk packs of bottled water. One guy even had two trolleys full of these bottles, as it was the only item he bought.

Stuff toys, chocolates and electronics. The stores are going to make their money by selling water this Christmas.

 

[<moLe>]

Just been to Makro, and it was interesting to see how many people were buying bulk packs of bottled water. One guy even had two trolleys full of these bottles, as it was the only item he bought.

Stuff toys, chocolates and electronics. The stores are going to make their money by selling water this Christmas.

I'll stick to beer, value added intoxication

 

[PeterCH]

The government has everything under control. Why worry???

 

[trenton]

Water in harties is also dodge.
Ceer might be a good idea.

 

[<moLe>]

lets hope more people start drinking tap water then..and maybe we can kull the population down to size (anc voters first)

 

[FoRmFacTor]

lets hope more people start drinking tap water then..and maybe we can kull the population down to size (anc voters first)

isent that a bit harsh????

 

[<moLe>]

isent that a bit harsh????

I suppose I'm in a "kill everything" mood today..I tend to get more sane as teh day progress

 

[dlk001]

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

I'm still drinking Joburg tap water. However, some dude who sells one of those water filters came to my house and did a demo to convince me how unsafe tap and bottle water is.

 

[dlk001]

Many authors, including DWAF have recognised our water challenges in SA. What Dr. Turton writes is nothing new. Having worked at the CSIR, Mining Division, I am aware of the professional process and procedures when it comes to publishing papers and presentations. Still, as a consultant, I follow the same procedures irrespective of my personal strong views. From what Dr. Sibisi said on 702, the issue was with Dr. Turton's presentation content and theme which was different to the relevant paper that was circulated internally at CSIR.

The CSIR and DWAF conducted an overview from 2001 to 2006 of the state of municipal infrastructure in SA, its operation and maintenance. The aim was to identify measures that could be taken to improve the maintenance of municipal infrastructure. I should quote their findings:

The investigation has shown that South Africa has many instances of adequate municipal infrastructure and service delivery, but also an increasing proportion of deteriorating infrastructure, together with poor and often unacceptable quality of services. Similarly, while some municipalities have exemplary practices in place in respect of many of the aspects of infrastructure maintenance, gross shortfalls in management policies and practice exist in many municipalities. Between these two extremes, a wide range of capacity and competence can be found.

Anyway, coming back to the issues of our water.

Various technical and non-technical methodologies are in place. The next OVERDUE step is to ensure that we change our regulations to effectively monitor, test and manage the quality of drinking water supplied to consumers.

I've read about a lot of risk assessment studies on various water treatment plants across the country by Water Research Commission, CSIR, DWAF and academia like University of Pretoria, Cape Town and Stellenbosch. From what I can infer, the main reasons for our failure to fully comply with national drinking water standards are:

- our Water Services Authorities are not aware of the necessary requirements to set up an effective Drinking Water Quality;

- our management and monitoring of drinking water services is often inadequate;

- infrastructure is poorly maintained;

- Water Services Authorities are hindered by institutional capacity problems such as insufficient or untrained staff and budgetary constraints;

- appropriate legislative interventions are not in place to address poor quality drinking water;

The Municipal Systems Act (year 2000, I think ) transfers water treatment works from DWAF to Water Services Authorities. This has brought in a lot of challenges for municipalities. I can infer from my experiences with water projects in rural areas like OR Tambo, Alfred Nzo that some of our Water Services Authorities municipalities do not enforce water regulations while some do not even include them in their by-laws. This is problem to the quality of our water.

I'm hoping to see some progress and action plans for increased drinking water quality management-orientated personnel at Water Services Authorities, both at provincial and local government level. Hopefully, things will pick-up after 2009 elections.

Research and Water Quality

Our Water Department in my company tells me that one of the biggest international concerns is the presence of disrupting chemicals in our water stream, the risk to humans, appropriate testing and assessment and regulations. SA has always been on the forefront of pro-active water research. I have not seen anything yet to suggest that we are falling back.

We have a lot of water quality solutions but the problem (as I noted above) is logistics of implementing them at treatment works uniformly and across the country.

As usual, there are proposals for a new drinking water quality regulation strategy that should be implemented as soon as research has been completed. Hopefully, we will see this implemented in our various water acts such as:

- The National Water Resources Strategy (2004)
- The National Water Act (No.36 of 1998)
- National Health Act (No. 61 of 2003)
- Municipal Structures Act (No.117 of 1998)
- Strategic Framework for Water Services (2003)
- Compulsory National Standards for the Quality of Potable Water (2001)
- Water Services Act (No. 108 of 1997)

As you can see, there's just too many and the process could take up to 2 years.

To sum up my thoughts:

My biggest worry is the ability of our municipality to COPE (Congress of the People ) with the transfer of water treatment works from DWAF. I feel this is a big mistake by government because DWAF overlooked the need for a proper municipal infrastructure program and capacity building before the handover process.

 

[Sneeky]

There was no electricty crisis either till the lights went out and the mines ground to a halt.

 

[Captain Slog]

My biggest worry is the ability of our municipality to Cope with the transfer of water treatment works from DWAF. I feel this is a big mistake by government because DWAF overlooked the need for a proper municipal infrastructure program and capacity building before the handover process.

What was the motivation behind removing the responsibility for ensuring potable water quality from the DWAF to individual municipalities? After all, the DWAF was doing a sterling job.

So, in your opinion, is it too little, too late again?