By Tim Walker and Zamuxolo Matiwana
The current furore concerning the supply and quality of water to Grahamstown was debated by experts in the fields of water safety and management as well as members of the Rhodes University and Grahamstown community on Monday 8 March at the Barrett Lecture Theatre. The topic was sparked by the newspaper reports that there are high levels of toxic metals such as aluminium and arsenic in Grahamstown’s tap water which could lead to health problems in the future.
The meeting was convened with the view to devising water supply and quality management solutions as well as addressing the concerns of the community relating to the recent media reports of the harmful levels of toxicity that have been identified in Grahamstown’s water.
The Forum commenced with presentations by a panel of Rhodes scientists that included Prof Denis Hughes, Director of the Institute of Water Research, Prof Nelson Torto, Analytical Chemist, Prof Greg Ruiters, Director of the Institute for Social and Economic Research, Prof Janice Limson, Head of Biotechnology in the Department of Biochemistry, Microbiology & Biotechnology and Prof Ric Bernard, Zoologist and Dean of Science and Makana Municipality, Director of Technical and Infrastructural Services, Mr Dabula Njilo.
Kick-starting the debate Professor Hughes raised the issue of skills and maintenance on the system as a contributing factor to the water problem. Prof Hughes said the issue of skill both with the operators and managers and supervisors is a nationwide problem. He said there are not enough skilled operators and few people actually know what they should be doing.
Prof Hughes further raised the issue of information versus rumour. He said there have been a lot of rumours over the past three years about water quality situation in Grahamstown and not enough information.
A concerned resident and representative of the Unemployed People’s Movement, Mr Ayanda Kota concurred with him and said there are times when there is no water in the township for two days and sometimes no information is forthcoming from the Municipality for several hours. He said when you go to the tap in the evening the water is brown and people don’t know the implications.
“Our people do drink that water so this issue has been very thorny in our township, this is our struggle, and to us it is a normal life. Our people have accepted that they see nothing wrong,” said Mr Kota. He said no one brought this issue to the people’s attention in the township to make them aware that there may be danger in the water. “I would have been happy if this kind of gathering with translators can be convened in our township so as to sensitise our people because we are the most affected. Nobody cares about us because we live from that side of town,” he added.
Director of Technical and Infrastructural Services, Mr Dabula Njilo assured the audience that Grahamstown water is safe for drinking. He said when the water issue broke in the media, the Makana Municipality asked the Independent company, Amatola Water Board which is accredited by the Department of Water Affairs to intervene on the matter and conduct a full analysis. “The results came back showing totally different picture in terms of what was published in the papers,” said Mr Njilo. He further said the results will be available on the website and in the media “so that during this period we will monitor and manage the situation.”
Makana Municipality is facing capacity problems because of the scarcity of skills especially in engineering and science in South Africa. It has managed to appoint an Assistant Director for Water Services specialising in water quality and three senior technicians, two of them will be responsible for water services. The Municipality is looking forward to partner with the university and work as a team to try to resolve the problem.
Professor Nelson Torto raised the issue of quality in terms of the water which involve two issues qualitative aspects which addresses the question of what is real water and quantitative aspects which deal with sample numbers. He further said for anyone to be able to ascertain unequivocally that everything has been done properly requires a lot of effort. He added that different scientists can bring different arguments in terms of what is water quality is on the basis of their measurements.
He said from their initiative with PhD students, the preliminary results clearly confirm that the aluminium and arsenic are high as has been reported by newspapers. “Please note the fact that for anyone to be able to comment about water quality in a particular source or area it requires a continual effort of systematic investigations,” he added. He said this is not necessarily the official status of water in Grahamstown. “We [or someone] need to do a systematic analysis of the water and try to address different aspects in terms of the sample points, the time of sampling and other things that might affect the quality of water,” he added.
Prof Limson stated that the problem of Arsenic was worrying and should become a much higher priority as it is poisonous and the likelihood of contact is high.
Prof Limson wrote in the local newspaper:”There have been reports about recent increases in the levels of certain potentially harmful metals in the Grahamstown tap water. Keeping metal levels in check in our bodies is a finely tuned balancing act. No predictions about harm or safety can be absolute. However, the potential for harm should not be quickly disregarded.“
Audience members also raised concerns over the manner in which testing has been undertaken, with many arguing for the implementation of a more rigours and regular testing procedure.
Dr Badat concluded the debate by stating that there was a need for an authoritative figure to separate myths and rumours and provide information and facts.
He also called for a unified approach towards addressing the issues raised.
”We must start speaking as a town around infrastructural issues,” he said, “or else we are simply postponing problems for years to come.”
Pic: Simone Armer. The panel addresses Daily Dispatch journalist, Mr David McGregor who broke the story and sparked the water controversy.