By OBAKENG MAJE
Residents across the Dr Ruth Segomotsi Mompati region said, the lack of access to clean and drinkable water affects their well-being. Yesterday, traffic was affected after residents in Utlwang Location, near Christiana embarked on a protest demanding the provision of water.
They barricaded the road that links their area with Christiana CBD with burning tyres and debris. According to one of the residents, Sonwabo Mseswa, is been a while since they have not access to clean and drinkable water.
“We are here as a community because of the water crisis that we are having. It is very sad that we are having a big river that passes through our town, but we are still suffering. The reality of the matter is the municipality cannot answer that.
“They always tell us that the provision of water is the prerogative of the district municipality. However, we have not received any word from the district municipality,” Mseswa said.
He further said, the municipality promised to bring relevant stakeholders such as the district mayor, Motseothata Maje, and North West MEC for Cooperative Governance, Human Settlement and Traditional Affairs (COGHSTA), but that has not happened.
He added that, everyone knows that water is life and they cannot live like this. Mseswa said their health is at risk because of the lack of water.
Another resident, Olebogeng Morake shared the same sentiments. Morake said, water challenges continue to affect their livelihoods at large including school children.
“Our children have to bathe and cook before they could go to school. However, that is not the case because of the lack of provision of water. Even our households are also affected because mostly, we use in-house toilets.
“Just imagine our situation because we cannot even use the ablution facilities in our own houses. We are now forced to recycle water after bathing or washing clothes. Remember, the contaminated water can transmit diseases, so our health is also at risk,” he said.
Some of the residents from Maphoitsile and neighbouring areas embarked on a march recently to the Dr Ruth Segomotsi Mompati District Municipality mayor, Motseothata Maje’s office carrying dirty water that allegedly came out of their taps.
According to them, it’s been over five years since they started to experience water challenges in their area. They said, the water that comes out of their taps is dirty and not good for human consumption.
The Member of Mayoral Committee (MMC) who is responsible for infrastructure, councillor, Pico Seapamere said: “This is a national crisis, but we have a responsibility as the municipality to ensure that, there is a provision of water in the district.
“We had a consultative engagement with the Lekwa-Temane Local Municipality mayor and municipal manager to come up with strategic measures to redress the situation. So, the main challenge at Lekwa-Temane is load-shedding.”
Seepamere said, the water pumping system was affected by load-shedding and that caused the delays. He said, they will be installing a new generator as a backup.
“We think that in two days, water scarcity will be reduced in the entire Lekwa-Temane. We have also engaged in a meeting with service providers to ensure that, there is a plan to provide water to other areas, where we do not have a reticulation system.
“We have delivered four JoJo tanks at Magogong village, near Taung and the emergency department will continue to ensure that, those JoJo tanks are filled with water,” said Seepamere.
He said, unfortunately, four JoJo tanks that had over 10 000 litres were allegedly burned by community members on Wednesday in Bona-Bona village, near Ganyesa.
“There is no longer about water, but there is a criminal activity element. When you go to Lekgabeng village in Taung, the contractor was supposed to be on-site by Monday. However, I heard that was not the case.
“So, the contractor promised to attend to the issue of Lokgabeng as soon as yesterday. He was allegedly held hostage by some business persons, who were demanding to be given tenders in Gulodina,” he said.
Seepamere said, some of the challenges are not water-related issues. He said when you go to Modimong village, near Taung, there is a contractor on site who is building a water supply system there.
“So, the project is nearing completion. Soon we will be handing over that water plant. We are also attending to water challenges in Lower and Upper Majakgoro.
“Now, the challenge here is, there is a pretentious service between us and Phokwane Local Municipality as no one is willing to come to the party. However, we cannot bring a blame game here as we thrive in ensuring that our people get the provision of water,” said Seepamere.
Meanwhile, the Magalies Water spokesperson, David Magae said the water plant supplying the Maphoitsile and neighbouring areas has design limitations, which are normally featured in the normal water treatment process.
Magae said, there is no settling tank, which must be part of the treatment process before water is dispensed externally for consumption.
“As a result, the arrangements are such that, we utilise direct filtration to mitigate this design limitation. Regrettably, under circumstances whereby the raw water turbidity is above 100NTU.
“Turbidity is the cloudiness or haziness of a fluid caused by large numbers of individual particles that are generally invisible to the naked eye, similar to smoke in the air.
“the measurement of turbidity is a key test of both water clarity and water quality, which is the case now. The water plant cannot handle that kind of turbidity,” he said.
According to Magae, the municipality through the responsible officials responsible for water services has been made aware of the above-mentioned challenge.
He said, the current control measures include frequent backwashing of sand filters, optimization of the disinfection process and blending of water from the plant with treated water from the Pudimoe plant.
“This happens when there is a sufficient water supply at Khibitswane reservoir. The plant is going to be taken out of operation once the new Taung Plant has been commissioned and all villages that used to get water from Bogosing plant would receive water from the new Taung Plant,” he said.
The Guardian 