The City of Tshwane would like to urge communities in Hammanskraal and surrounding areas not to use water from taps for drinking purposes following an outbreak in the area.
While the water supplied by the City in Hammanskraal is not potable, the City provides drinkable water through 52 water tankers to informal settlements three times a week and 40 water trucks to formal areas daily in Region 2. This is done to ensure that communities have safe drinking water.
The City regularly conducts tests on the quality of water provided to our communities. Following this outbreak, comprehensive tests will be done on the entire water distribution network.
Water samples have been collected in the affected areas and taken for tests, and results are expected on Wednesday to determine the cause of the outbreak. Some of the cases reported are from the Moretele area, which is not supplied by the City of Tshwane.
Officials from the City’s Health Department will go to the affected areas again today to collect further samples from the water tankers that supply water to the informal settlements.
Outbreak response teams are on the ground conducting surveillance monitoring and sampling the water. Communities are urged to present themselves to their nearest health facility immediately when they experience symptoms. Health facilities are on high alert to urgently attend to patients with symptoms.
The City is eagerly awaiting the confirmatory test results from the National Institute for Communicable Diseases to establish the cause of the outbreak.
The City would like to encourage residents in the affected areas to regularly wash the containers they use to draw water from the water tankers with bleach and to boil water drawn from other sources before drinking it. Communities are also urged not to conduct religious activities, such as baptisms, in rivers or streams.
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