Mpuma aims to clean up water
2005-04-14 22:42
Zinkie Sithole & Justin Arenstein
Nelspruit - Mpumalanga's capital, Nelspruit, has finally decided to strengthen its monitoring of private water companies, 14 months after eight township children died of cholera-like symptoms in a water-poisoning scandal.
Municipal manager Bruno Vilane said on Thursday, the city would do so only if it could find an extra R600 000 from either the provincial government or the private sector.
The Matsulu township children died in February 2004 after a privately owned Greater Nelspruit Utility Company's (GNUC) water-treatment plant was knocked offline for three days - and they didn't warn consumers the water had been contaminated.
Doctors and civic groups reported a widespread outbreak of diarrhoea, vomiting, and other cholera or rotavirus symptoms shortly afterwards.
Possibility of mechanical failure
Although there were no accurate statistics for the exact number of victims, private doctors reported treating up to 50 patients a day.
Grieving families reported at least eight child deaths related to the epidemic in a week.
Independent investigators, Kruger Lourens Attorneys, reported at the time that GNUC should have foreseen the possibility of mechanical failure and should have immediately reported the breakdown to residents and municipal authorities, alike.
Kruger Lourens also found that GNUC's operations in Matsulu Township failed to adhere to national water-safety standards and therefore placed the lives of residents at "high risk".
The firm was unable to categorically link the deaths of eight children to mismanagement, however - largely because the government's local clinic records were in shocking disarray.
'Small unit runs at a R600 000 loss'
Nelspruit's umbrella municipality, Mbombela, said on Thursday, a year-long review of oversight measures had confirmed the council needed to double the size of the unit that monitored GNUC's compliance with safety standards.
"We will need more money to do this, because even the small unit runs at a R600 000 loss.
Vilane said: "We have included the proposed expansion of the unit on our unfunded mandate budget, which means we will upgrade the monitoring and evaluation only if we can find additional funds."
The investigators recommended that GNUC immediately update its emergency procedures and replace its purification equipment.
They should also improve internal communications, and implement a regular flushing of Matsulu's entire water system linked with regular testing of water quality.