Early last week, the City of Cape Town issued a precautionary boiling notice as residents in the eastern, central and southern suburbs of Cape Town experienced discolouration in the water distributed from Faure Water Treatment Plant.
The notice has since been lifted, however, water and sanitation mayco member Zahid Badroodien stated the plant is currently undergoing a three-day cleaning process as the water continues to be tested.
According to Badroodien, loadshedding appears to be the cause of the discolouration of drinking water as Eskom continues to implement consistent rolling blackouts following a critical power shortage in South Africa.
As such, the rolling blackouts appeared to cause a fault in the de-watering unit process which is unable to be powered by the standby generator due to the high energy that is required, as per IOL.
However, many have noted that the City has had enough time to adapt its water cleaning strategy as loadshedding has been a consistent problem for decades.
85 Generators have been fitted at larger priority water and sewage pump stations as a means to increase the resilience of water and sanitation supply systems.
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Water safe to drink – City lifts precautionary water boiling notice
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