Municipal water shows up green

[caption id="attachment_34140" align="alignright" width="300"] NOT SPARKLING: A reader's picture of the green water in the family pool[/caption]

IN recent weeks, I have noticed a distinct and unpleasant taste to our tap water. At times you can smell chlorine and in the very same day, at other times, it can taste almost as if it is stagnant (a slightly metallic taste).

Even after boiling the water, it still tastes unpleasant. I have sort of accepted it as the "way it is".

Last week, we had to drain our pool fully to have some cracks repaired and general maintenance work done. At the weekend, the pool was re-filled from the mains water supply.

The pool was crystal clean with bright white walls and what it showed was that our water supply, that we all think is clean, fresh and sparkling, is in fact not far off being pond water. It is green!

With all the service delivery issues, I appreciate that the municipality has a lot on its plate, but the right to decent drinking water should be sacrosanct. This is especially so as the NMBM wants to increase water charges by way more than the inflation rate.

DH, Port Elizabeth