The Nelson Mandela Bay municipality has spent almost R1m on testing equipment to ensure the city’s drinking water is safe.
The 35 new testing kits, which municipal staff have been using since July 1, allow environmental health practitioners to do certain tests immediately at sites where they collect samples.
The municipality’s acting principal environmental health practitioner, Dirk Steyn, said this meant that the turnaround time for the pH and chlorine tests would be shorter, as samples previously had to be analysed at the public health directorate’s laboratories.
“Normally we take samples on a Monday morning and the results would only be ready sometime on Wednesday, which meant if something was wrong with the water, people would still be drinking it for two days,” Steyn said.
Mayoral committee member for public health Lance Grootboom said residents would be informed immediately if their drinking water had been contaminated, but that weekly tests would go a long way towards ensuring safety in this regard.
“Our water has always been of a high quality, but we want to be proactive,” Grootboom said.
“We’re required to do testing once a month but we are doing it on a weekly basis.”
Deputy director for environmental health Dr Patrick Nodwele said the testing would be done at 77 sampling points.While the two tests can be performed immediately in the field, extensive tests are performed at the laboratories to determine the levels of certain chemicals and test for bacteria.
These tests are normally concluded on a Thursday if samples are submitted on a Monday.