Friday, 29 July 2011

City toasts to clean water status

‘The quality of drinking water in the City of uMhlathuze is among the best in the country.’ That's the proud boast of the municipality following the Department of Water Affairs’ (DWA’s) drinking water quality status report for the past 12 months. It shows that the City far exceeds the provincial and national percentages. ‘The drinking water quality status takes into account drinking water quality; appropriate testing parameters; appropriate number of samples taken and frequency of monitoring,’ said Acting Municipal Manager, Dr NJ Sibeko. ‘The City achieved 100% compliance in all aspects, which is a clear indication of the status of the Water Quality Monitoring Programme in place and affirms that the operational integrity of the various systems is maintained. ‘In achieving this good compliance the two water services providers, WSSA Mzingazi and Mhlathuze Water Board were utilised in providing drinking water of a good quality. ‘The commitment of both the WSSA team and the City officials is the main contributing factor to achieving good quality of water. ‘Close monitoring of the processes in water treatment plants and continual maintenance of distribution pipelines ensure good water quality to our communities.’ Water at different stages of the treatment process at Nsezi Water Treatment Plant is analysed hourly for physical water quality parameters. More detailed bacteriological & chemical analyses are done three times a week and daily at the Mhlathuze Water’s SANAS accredited laboratory. Treated water quality meets the SANS 241 Class 1 standard for lifetime consumption. As the water is also used for the manufacturing of white paper, the quality in some respects exceeds drinking water requirements. The Department of Infrastructure and Technical Services of the City of uMhlathuze has been commended on this achievement.