Sewer pipeline damaged by contractor blunder leaves some Durban residents worried over water quality

Residents in Clare Estate in Durban say they won’t be drinking their tap water, despite assurances from the city that it is safe to do so.

This follows reports of people in O'Flaherty Road falling ill after drinking tap water allegedly contaminated by sewage leaking from a damaged pipe.

eThekwini municipality said water and sewerage pipelines were accidentally damaged while a water and sanitation team was trying to repair a burst main water pipe in March.

The city said it took samples to check for contamination, which came back positive.

“The teams immediately flushed out and disinfected the line to ensure compromised water is removed and would not reach the taps of residents. More samples were taken while repairs were being undertaken and further flushing was done to clear the supply of contamination,” said a statement from eThekwini municipality on Wednesday.

It said the city finished the repairs and further tests were conducted over the weekend (April 6 and 7) which have shown that the water was safe drink.

However, residents who spoke to TimesLIVE on Thursday said they were not convinced the water was safe and they would not be willing to “take chances”.

Pregnant Chanelle van Jaarsveldt, an O’Flaherty Road resident, said despite using a purifying filter attached to her tap as well as boiling the water, she still fell ill. 

“I got sick with diarrhoea over the weekend from drinking the water. I could smell the water was a little bit funny but I thought I had maybe left it in the fridge for too long. At first I thought it was one of those pregnancy things, but I connected everything when the community group chat said we should not drink that water,” she said.

Van Jaarsveldt said the water from the taps was brown at first but it appeared clean now, but she was not ready to drink or cook with it because there was still a “foul smell”.

“I have bought water for drinking because I don’t believe that the issue is resolved yet. Even in the shower there was a funny smell,” she said.

Sonitha Gootham, another resident, said the city had not communicated with them to tell them the water was not safe for consumption nor that everything was fixed. The only update was from a community group chat on social media.

“They sent a message on the group yesterday that we must wait for three weeks before we can use tap water. We have not received any update from the municipality,” said Gootham.

She said she had reported sewage overflow from a manhole opposite her house over two weeks before the city did anything. That resulted in her daughter being among those who had fallen ill over the past month since the issue started, she said.

“The manhole was overflowing from day to night and they did nothing about it for two weeks. They only sent a reference number when I reported the issue. I had to take my child to a doctor because she was also vomiting. They said she had a stomach infection,” she said.

Gootham said she would continue spending about R80 on three 5l bottles of water per week for cooking and drinking, at least until their community group chats tells them otherwise.

Ward councillor Alicia Kisson said the community's mistrust emanated from the city confirming the water was safe to drink only from samples taken earlier this month.

“eThekwini is saying that it was misinformation [that water was contaminated] but I can attest that [after] the water [pipe] was repaired, the department confirmed with me that it is safe to drink. However, I insisted on tests and two days later water samples were taken from taps in the households. When those results came back, three weeks later, they showed that there was no chlorine in the water, and, two days after the repair, there was 200% E. coli,” she said.

Kisson said she was aware the city said its latest results showed the water was safe but she would only comment after seeing the certificate of analysis.

However, she said she would not be surprised if the latest results came back clear because residents may have flushed out the contaminated water from the system by opening their taps, rather than the city doing it.

TimesLIVE

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