Water reduction at Emalahleni
Dumisile Magagula
The cause of the water reduction is due to leaking of pipes The water reduction is caused by poor maintenance in Emalahleni, which is done by a municipality pipe blast, and major leaks along the R104 next to a diesel depot.
It’s been three days, and other wards do not have water. If other wards have to be supplied with water, the rest of the wards are not supplied with water. Thus, a reduction is made (water reduction). This is happening around Emalahleni in town and around the township.
It started on the 5th of September 2024 around Emalahleni, The municipality neglected the pipe blast every time from the 1st of September we didn’t have water, and school children didn’t welcome summer which is a township tradition to keep delight in children. After the announcement that was made by Mr Maswati the speaker of Emalahleni municipality that there will be a reduction of water which will start on the 7th of September but it took place earlier than he announced.
The community affected tried to complain but their voice was not heard it violated their rights to have water, the community moves stream to stream for water but they have no assurance whether it’s safer to use, early in the morning they fetch water before going to work, school children will come back early from school because there is no water, violence their right to get an education.
So to make sure that the water they are consuming or drinking is safe for the community. The Vukani Environmental Movement took a stand and joined the testing of the water set which was held by Watercan giving free kits, so we started a campaign to test tap water and stream. The results were not good. Too much chlorine was found in the tap water, the stream water due to sewer and bad smell. It’s also not good at all but due to desperation our community drinks that water
We have linked the results that we got from the tap water and stream water to the internet to get all the results that we wanted to know about, shared with the whole community, and warned that the water that Emalahleni is supplying is not healthy to drink.
