Although the drought that crippled most of South Africa earlier this year has basically been broken and the northern regions have even experienced storms and flooding, the southern regions are still suffering from a lack of rain and are under very strict water restrictions.
The City of Cape Town urged its residents to reduce their water consumption even further, back to winter levels, which is really difficult, especially in the face of hot summer days which are due to get even hotter. Level 3 water restrictions, which forbid the use of hosepipes under any circumstances and the refilling of swimming pools unless covered with a pool blanket, seem to have helped, but the City says that overall water consumption was still 10% higher than the savings target.
Residents in Gauteng were advised to keep on saving water, despite recent intense downpours and flooding in some areas, and were warned by the Department of Water and Sanitation that the province is still experiencing a drought.
In other parts of the country there have been fears about the drinking water and some warnings have been issued:
The quality of the city’s drinking water in some parts of Bloemfontein was a dirty brown last week, and some signs of E.coli were found in water drawn for testing at several points. Chemicals such as chlorine and lime had to be increased to wipe out any traces of E.coli;
Residents in St Michaels, Brackenfell in the Western Cape Province were also informed by the City of Cape Town that their water was of poor quality due to the possible ingress of sub-standard water from stagnant, previously isolated sections of the pipeline. Residents were warned that it may be unsafe to use the water for drinking, brushing of teeth, washing, cooking, etc. unless it is boiled first.
Residents in other areas have also complained about the drinking water having a musty smell or taste, so perhaps this is the perfect time to invest in a water cooler that can provide one with chilled, toxin-free and great-tasting drinking water.
