Dikgatlong municipality must be held accountable for its ongoing disregard towards preventing pollution of the Vaal River in Barkly-West.
Oversight conducted as part of the Democratic Alliance’s “Save Our Rivers” tour, revealed that not even the recent discovery of Cholera in the Vaal has shocked Dikgatlong municipality into attempting to comply with the National Water Act of 1998. Instead, untreated raw effluence continues to be allowed to flow directly into the Vaal River. Additional seepage of sewage into a road, in close proximity of the riverbank, was also observed. In addition, the quality of potable water from taps supplied by a main water pipeline, was observed to be visibly dirty.
For years, the DA has raised our water quality concerns, sewage spills and contamination of the Vaal. In November last year, we flagged a diarrhea-related death believed to be linked to contaminated water. At the time, laboratory tests confirmed that water did not conform to safe drinking standards. Coliforms per 100 milli-liter were also found to be greater than 150, while they should have been less than 10.
It is disturbing that despite performing dismally in both the Blue and Green Drop Reports, Dikgatlong municipality still fails to take ownership of its water and sanitation systems.
The DA has previously reported our concerns regarding the Vaal in Barkly-West to the South African Human Rights Commission, the Green Scorpions, the MEC of COGHSTA and the Department of Water and Sanitation. The DA will update all these institutions with our latest observations, including contacting the Minister and Deputy Minister of DWS.
We are amplifying our call for immediate intervention to halt the ongoing pollution of the Vaal River. It is also essential that the Dikgatlong municipality is held accountable for its negligence. After ongoing lack of compliance, we are further of the view that criminal steps against them must be considered, to protect the residents of Barkly-West and those dependent on the Vaal as a critical water resource.