EDITORIAL: Water is life, not death

The maxim summarising the guiding principles of the water and sanitation department is that “water is life, sanitation is dignity.” Put differently, it is a basic human right that everyone should enjoy. But for residents of Hammanskraal, a small town which is home to more than just 21,000 people, water is the source of misery, disease and death.

For the residents, water has not been fit for human consumption for nearly two decades. The water from their taps is brown, yellow or slimy and unpleasant because it is laced with raw sewage, human faeces and other pollutants that pose serious health risks.

The health danger reached a critical point in 2023 when a cholera outbreak claimed the lives of 15 people. That rightly prompted the City of Tshwane, as reported by our sister online publishing platform, TimesLIVE, to urge the residents not to use it for drinking purposes because the water is not potable.

Suffice to say this is a disgraceful confession of failure by one of the largest municipalities in the country, the capital city and home to major industries such as BMW. It begs the question as to what alternatives residents have.

The City says it provides potable water through water tankers, but this is not enough to meet the needs of the people. Many residents have no choice but to use the dirty water for drinking, cooking and bathing, or to buy bottled water if they can afford it.

The water crisis is a long-standing problem that has been ignored. Since 2005, the Rooiwal water treatment plant has been failing to treat the wastewater from Tshwane and Hammanskraal, due to being overloaded with volumes far beyond its capacity. The plant is supposed to clean the wastewater before releasing it into the Apies River, which is the main source of water for Hammanskraal. Instead, the plant has been dumping raw or partially treated sewage into the river, polluting it and putting the environment and public health at risk.

The residents of Hammanskraal have been suffering from this injustice for too long. They have raised their voices and demanded clean water, but met with empty promises and negligence. The SA Human Rights Commission confirmed the water in Hammanskraal is unfit for human consumption in 2019, but the municipality or the government has done nothing to improve the situation.

It is a violation of the human right to water and sanitation, as enshrined in the constitution and international law. It is unacceptable, and belies a country portrayed as a leader in human rights.

The City and the national government must act urgently and decisively to end the water crisis. They must fix the Rooiwal plant and ensure it operates efficiently and effectively. They must also provide adequate and reliable alternative sources of potable water to the residents until the quality of tap water is restored. They must also hold accountable those who are responsible for the negligence and mismanagement that caused this crisis.

The people of Hammanskraal deserve better. They deserve water that is life, not death.